Essendon president Andrew Welsh has been grilled over his relationship with the club’s new coach Mark McVeigh, quickly rejecting suggestions of nepotism or a conflict of interest.
McVeigh was best man at Welsh’s wedding, and Welsh was also in McVeigh’s wedding party.
They were also teammates at Essendon, with Welsh’s career spanning from 2002-2011 and McVeigh playing 232 games for the Bombers between 1999 and 2012.
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“Surely that’s a bit of a conflict for you?” Welsh was asked when appearing on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters on Tuesday night.
Despite the optics, Welsh quickly shot down the suggestion.
“Oh no, not at all,” Welsh responded.
Andrew Welsh, Mark McVeigh and CEO Tim Roberts. Credit: Getty Images “We’ve had five individual people that are of the highest regard on the selection panel. So they all form their view independently and recommended Mark unanimously to the board.
“And then we’ve got a board of 10 highly successful people with their views. And he was unanimously voted through that process as well.”
Welsh was then pressed about the possibility of having to sack his best friend in the future, and he didn’t shy away from the reality.
“Well, you shouldn’t hire people if you can’t fire them,” Welsh told The Agenda Setters.
Welsh maintained the rigorous selection process justified the appointment and had nothing to do with the fact that he was a good mate of McVeigh’s.
“So we’re very pleased that the process that was put in place was one that our members wanted, and that Mark was voted unanimously at the end of this process as the clear standout candidate.”
Essendon great James Hird — another former teammate of Welsh’s — was overlooked for the position but Welsh admitted he was a strong candidate and they would like to have him at the club in some capacity.
“(Hird) was certainly a worthy candidate to being included. He really impressed the panel in his first interview, so we did catch up as a five-person panel with James and the other long list candidates, and he really impressed us,” Welsh said.
“So we felt from that point that from that point on that he was it was right for him to go through the full process, and he presented extremely well. His philosophy on football, the work that he’s done away from the game, he was a worthy candidate to be part of the process.
“And we hope, in some way, we can get him back involved in the club because he’s such a special person for our club, and I think there’s real value that he can add.”
Asked why Hird didn’t get the job, Welsh said he did not want to address the candidates who weren’t successful, but McVeigh’s background in developing players was viewed as a plus.
“He’s got a lot of evidence of his football philosophy, his game philosophy, he’s been in successful environments, top-four environments. He’s left just left the Sydney Swans and they’re second on the ladder at the end of the season, most games they’ve ever won in a season.
“So that evidence is extremely strong, and his ‘one club’ approach made him a standout applicant within the process, and why he was appointed.”
Welsh also denied that the senior coach had to be an Essendon person.
“It was false reporting (that we wanted an Essendon person),” Welsh told The Agenda Setters.
“It really was. And that’s why I go back to the point that I was really proud of (the process).
“It’s a double-edged sword because we get accused a lot as a club of leaking. We have in the past been accused of that. In this instance, there was no information getting out. The double-edged sword is that lies are created.
“Stories are manifested and all of a sudden it becomes people’s reality.
“Jaymie Graham (Fremantle assistant), Murray Davis (Adelaide director of coaching), the conversations we had and their input and view from an outsider’s perspective was really refreshing. So it didn’t need to be an Essendon person at all.”