AFL News: Bombers turmoil deepens with CEO quitting, Fyfe 'cherry ripe' for Freo finals, Rayner banned

Essendon’s turbulent fortnight has delivered board upheaval, a coach sacking and now a chief executive resignation but outgoing CEO Xavier Campbell is adamant the battling AFL club isn’t as fractured as it appears.

Campbell, who in May was recontracted until the end of 2024, resigned on Wednesday, less than three days after he told media he was confident he had board support.

He stressed he did have their backing but said the past week, which included coach Ben Rutten’s sacking on Sunday, had “solidified” his previous thoughts of stepping down.

Campbell believed he didn’t have the required alignment with new president David Barham or the energy to help lead the Bombers through an era of change.

“Dave deserves to have someone that’s absolutely aligned and in behind the plan and got the energy to deliver on that plan and that’s not me now,” Campbell told reporters.

Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

“And that’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just a good timing for me to step away and I’m very comfortable with that.”

Campbell, who was chief executive since 2014 and worked at the Bombers from 2009, had been a Rutten supporter.

Board member and Bombers great Simon Madden has also departed.

The club was turned on its head after last week’s board meeting, where Barham replaced Paul Brasher as president, prompting an unsuccessful pursuit of Alastair Clarkson.

In his parting statement, Campbell called for Essendon to unite under Barham and work “in lockstep” to help the club find success.

When asked how fractured the club was, he was blunt.

“Not as much as you might think,” Campbell said.

“This is an industry full of extremes and you’re always playing at the edges and generally, the reality is it’s somewhere in the middle and that’s exactly where this football club sits.

“There has been change, absolutely and there’s been rigorous debate and discussion about what’s best, but ultimately the outcome that everyone’s seeking is exactly the same.

“This next little period will still be difficult, no doubt, but it will shift massively at the end of this five or six-week period and I think Essendon is very well placed to achieve success in the medium term, without a doubt.”

The Bombers are hunting an experienced replacement for Rutten and Campbell hoped going forward, those inside and outside the club would support the next coach.

Campbell played a key role in steering the Bombers through the fallout of their supplements saga.

In a statement, Barham hailed Campbell’s leadership in reforming Essendon’s “governance, cultural and structural processes” and managing legal procedures related to AFL anti-doping and WADA appeals.

Campbell also played a key role in re-signing players, retaining sponsors and ensuring the club was a financial powerhouse.

The Bombers will immediately commence a search for Campbell’s replacement, with chief commercial officer Nick Ryan named acting CEO.

Fyfe good to go for finals

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has declared captain Nat Fyfe will be “cherry ripe” for the start of the AFL finals after deciding against playing him in the WAFL.

Fyfe was rusty in his return from a hamstring injury in last week’s 20-point win over GWS, tallying just nine disposals and 0.1 playing predominantly as a forward.

The two-time Brownlow medallist has played just seven matches this season amidst shoulder, back and hamstring issues, and he will enter the finals series severely underdone.

Fremantle toyed with the idea of giving Fyfe an extra run in the WAFL this weekend but that has now been officially canned.

Instead, Fyfe will be unleashed in next week’s elimination final against the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium after having a solid fortnight of training under his belt.

“I think it (training this week instead of playing) is best prep for him, and for him to be around the senior group and be really specific with what he needs to work on,” Longmuir told reporters on Wednesday.

“We feel like we can get some specific work into him. We’ve got some injury issues to our tall forwards, so the risk part came into it (as well).

“He was sore in some spots (after last week’s game), but his hammy was good, and some of the other issues he’s had over the season were good. 

“He’ll get a full two weeks of training into him and be cherry ripe for the first final.”

Fyfe’s availability has taken on extra importance after the club’s tall stocks were hit hard by injury in recent weeks.

Rory Lobb is recovering from a bung shoulder, Matt Taberner is still nursing a calf injury, while swingman Griffin Logue is working his way through an adductor issue.

Lobb, who was rested last week, isn’t in any doubt to take on the Bulldogs, but Logue and Taberner are further behind in their recoveries.

“We’re still working through Griff and how quickly we build his loads up,” Longmuir said.

“It (the injury) has popped up out of nowhere a little bit. I can’t really say what it is and define it. 

“He’s sore. We need to work through that.

“Tabs, he’ll be touch and go (to play in the WAFL) this week, and he’ll be pushing it for the week after. We’re expecting him to play the week after (in either the WAFL or AFL).”

Lobb has been carrying his shoulder injury since the round 18 loss to Sydney.

But skipping last week’s match – combined with the rest from the pre-finals bye – means the 29-year-old will have had three weeks to recover.

“The week off and not getting hits … avoiding that will do him the world of good,” Longmuir said.

Rayner out of first final due to ban

Even the famously hard cricket pitch area at the Gabba wasn’t enough to save Brisbane dynamo Cam Rayner from escaping his one-game AFL ban.

In a massive blow for the Lions’ chances in their elimination final against Richmond on September 1, the rough conduct charge against Rayner was upheld following a marathon tribunal hearing on Tuesday night.

The tribunal panel deliberated for 35 minutes after lengthy debate between the AFL’s counsel Andrew Woods and Lions lawyer Adrian Anderson.

Rayner answered a barrage of questions, first from Anderson, before Woods, tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson and tribunal panel member Stephen Jurica all had further queries.

The 2017 No.1 draft pick was reported for a strong tackle on Melbourne spearhead Ben Brown during the first quarter of Friday night’s game at the Gabba.

When reading out the verdict, Gleeson said it was an “inherently dangerous” tackle and upheld the match review officer’s assessment of the incident as careless, medium impact and high contact.

Rayner said he did his best in trying to wrap up Brown, who is more than 10cm and 10kgs heavier than him.

Brown was assessed by medical staff off the ground after suffering abrasions to his face during the incident, but was able to come back and play a starring role in Melbourne’s thumping victory. 

Anderson said Rayner did “nothing unreasonable” in tackling a player with Brown’s momentum, arguing the Demons full-forward tried to spin away from the Lions forward-midfielder.

“Because it’s a cricket wicket it’s very hard in there,” Rayner told the tribunal.

“If the tackle had happened anywhere else on the ground I’m not sure the abrasions would have happened.”

Debate raged about the match review officer’s grading of the impact as medium, with the Lions arguing it should have been low.

The AFL’s lawyer suggested to Rayner he should have given more consideration to how hard the cricket pitch area is at the Gabba when tackling Brown.

“In a split second during a game of footy I’m not thinking about what the surface is like,” Rayner replied.

The Gabba is one of the only remaining AFL grounds not to use a drop-in cricket wicket.

The Lions will also be without defender Noah Answerth after he accepted a one-game suspension for striking Melbourne’s Alex Neal-Bullen.

Brisbane are desperate to avoid another painful exit from finals after bowing out in straight sets during two of the last three seasons.

The Tigers, who have won three of the last five premierships, will regain superstar Dustin Martin for the trip to the Gabba after he missed the last seven games of the home-and-away season.

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