Changes were slowly made when Craig Vozzo became the new club chief. For a start, Dodoro remained and reported to the new boss and not Mahoney, who departed after one season with Scott. But my firm view is that divisions remain at Essendon, and that two seasons in, members of the old guard are not fully behind the new coach.

At the time of writing, the Bombers remain a live chance to reach September and their future looks full of hope. Their recent string of close and disappointing losses cannot be squared at Dodoro, but it is fair to say he remains more than simply a symbol of the club’s refusal to break the shackles of the past and move forward. He defends his role, but Essendon have not won a final for 20 years and Dodoro must share some responsibility, including for the list and some recent missteps.

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The compromised decision to employ a new list boss, Matt Rosa, but retain Dodoro in a lesser role, has had its moments and now reached its used-by date. The club appears to be coming to the realisation it must move forward with Rosa solely in charge, but Dodoro’s position remained a sensitive issue this week as the Bombers headed towards their final two 2024 home-and-away rounds and their next crucial trade period.

Despite Hall of Fame legend Sheedy’s unparalleled contribution to Essendon and Australian football, his presence on the Bombers’ board while also working in the dual role as paid ambassador remained an insult to Scott and a brand issue for the club. Respecting the past while moving forward unshackled remains a fine line but Barham could have been tougher with Sheedy, who seemed happy to remain on the board until this week.

For a club director of Sheedy’s reputation to break ranks immediately after a senior coaching appointment and declare he voted for another candidate, and had not backed the decision, is unprecedented in AFL terms. Former Richmond director and premiership coach Tony Jewell publicly criticised Danny Frawley’s coaching, later apologised, and then later was voted off the board, but for Sheedy to remain for two full seasons after his comments speaks again to Essendon’s clinging to their history.

Few at Essendon revere Sheedy more than president Barham, who also owed Sheedy after he backed him in the board split that ultimately ended Rutten’s time at the club. But in retaining the four-time premiership coach, the club symbolically put the past ahead of its future.

As Barham did in giving James Hird some genuine hope he had a chance of returning to the club as senior coach. Hird has every right to try to return to AFL coaching if that remains his wish. But it defies belief that he was a genuine candidate for the Bombers’ job so soon after the most catastrophic period in the club’s history, which occurred under his watch.

Still, by placing Hird in a genuine process once and for all, the club seems finally to have dealt with the Hird messiah complex.

Significantly Dyson Heppell, the last of the drug-scandal victims to remain at Essendon, announced his retirement this week. A respected, worthy and popular adornment to the Bombers for so many years, he was described on the club’s website by Barham as an “Essendon person through and through”.

Barham seems up to the task in forging ahead and breaking the ties of Essendon’s often selfish and deluded recent past. It is up to him along with Vozzo, Scott and Merrett to redefine the meaning of the so-called “Essendon person”.

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