according to Seven<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe former St Kilda senior coach, who left the club in 2019, then joined the Demons as Director of Coaching before transitioning into his current role for the 2021 premiership season.<\/p>\n
He is out of contract at the end of the year and will not continue at the club, continuing their renewal from the Simon Goodwin era.<\/p>\n
Richardson, 61, could yet stay in football having been close with Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly (with whom he played at the Magpies), and Port Adelaide turned Tasmania coach Ken Hinkley for some time.<\/p>\n
He may also retire.<\/p>\n
Key Melbourne figures including Alan Richardson and Steven King are seen during the 2025 Telstra AFL Draft at Marvel Stadium on November 19th, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
BOMBERS CRITICISED FOR \u2018DOBBING IN\u2019 GREAT<\/p>\n
– Oscar Moodley<\/p>\n
Essendon great Tim Watson says the Bombers have got \u201cmuch bigger things to worry about than trying to dob (Leigh Matthews) in\u201d after the Brisbane director\u2019s scathing review on the vacant Dons coaching job.<\/p>\n
The Lions great didn\u2019t hold back in his comments on 3AW last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the outside I said, \u2018Oh well, good luck\u2019. If I was a coach, I wouldn\u2019t be going to Essendon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you desperately want a job, you just go for it, right? But anyone who has choices ain\u2019t going to Essendon.<\/p>\n
Leigh Matthews wouldn\u2019t go anywhere near Essendon. Picture: Daniel Pockett\/AFL Photos\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cA coach is only as good as what\u2019s around him in players and staff and support from the top. \u201cFor me, from the outside, I don\u2019t know the Essendon people that well, but I would have no confidence to coach under that regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Journalist Caroline Wilson reported on Channel 7 on Monday night that the Bombers had reached out to the AFL given Matthews\u2019 senior role at Brisbane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you that Essendon CEO Tim Roberts was made aware of these comments and sent a transcript to the AFL and asked them what the AFL was going to do about it,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AFL pointed out that this was a club issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essendon 307-gamer Tim Watson said on SEN on Tuesday morning that Matthews had always been \u201cvery direct in what he has to say\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tim Watson said there was a lot of truth to Matthews\u2019 comments.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not somebody who goes out there for that click,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s enough evidence to suggest that what he\u2019s saying is not completely untrue either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best thing that you can do in this business is point at the scorecard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment their scorecard looks miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers have just two wins from their last 30 games and just one since they sacked former head coach Brad Scott in May.<\/p>\n
They sit dead last on the ladder, with a record of 2-18 and a measly percentage of 64.4 per cent.<\/p>\n
Essendon\u2019s finals win drought is 21 years and 334 days old as of Tuesday, with the last September win coming in 2004.<\/p>\n
Interim Dean Solomon is the 12th man to take charge of the Bombers since that last finals win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A crucial detail may have revealed the favourite for the Essendon coach job. Plus a key Melbourne figure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-843331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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