Picking Apart Jay Clark’s ‘Essendon Culture’ Take

Last week on the pod we tackled Rohan Connolly’s outrageous claim that Archie Perkins was “one of the biggest draft busts ever.”

This week, we’ve got another one worth dissecting, Jay Clark’s comments on First Crack last Sunday night, and his follow-up Tackle column in Monday’s Herald Sun. For those who missed it, here’s the gist of what Clark said before we get into the rebuttal.

Clark’s Main Points

• Claimed there are “eggshells at Essendon” following Patrick Voss’ breakout game for Fremantle.
  

• Linked Voss’ and Massimo D’Ambrosio’s departures in 2023 to past exits of Daniher, Saad, McKenna, and Fantasia.
  

• Drew a parallel between Sam Draper’s potential move and the Joe Daniher situation — implying it’s a “culture problem.”
  

• Called Sam Draper the “captain in waiting.”
  

• Quoted David King labelling Essendon supporters “the most gullible in the competition” while suggesting a lack of change if Draper, Parish, and Langford all left.

In The Tackle, he doubled down:

• Claimed Sam Draper leaving would be a “shattering blow” and an “indictment” on the club’s culture.
  

• Said Jayden Laverde might be off to GWS.
  

• Extensively praised Voss’ post-Essendon form while framing it as a mistake by the club.

In short, a cavalcade of surface-level “analysis” that read as though it built for clicks, not substance. An article that came less than two weeks after the man himself (Clake), as the Herald Sun Chief Football Writer, interviewed former Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell, make of that what you will.

Why This Demands a Response

Of all the reporting we've seen on Essendon in the past decade, and there’s been a lot, this ranks among the most disingenuous.

It’s unfair on Essendon.

It’s unfair on Patrick Voss.

It’s unfair on Essendon fans.

And let’s deal with this up front: the idea that Essendon fans are “the most gullible” in the AFL is absurd.

Here's what we know:

1. Essendon Fans Aren’t Gullible

No supporter base holds their club to account more than Essendon fans. After everything this club and its members have endured, trust doesn’t come easy. If anything, we’re sceptics first. It's insulting.

2. The Zach Merrett “Story” Exists Because the Media Keeps It Alive

The only reason the Merrett speculation lingers is because journalists keep talking about it. Every chance he has gotten Merrett has shut it down. Sure, where there’s smoke there can be fire but sometimes, the smoke comes from pyromaniacs lighting their own fires so they can watch the inferno.

3. The Truth About Patrick Voss

Voss was a GWS Academy product. They passed on him.

Essendon took a chance, and in the VFL he kicked 30 goals in 18 games, winning the B&F in a shallow field. Granted, in a side that struggled for form. Only one other AFL listed player played all 18 games - Alastair Lord. The runner up in the B&F was Rhys Montgomerie. All three were delisted.

Brad Scott has made it clear: standards matter. Voss wasn’t living an AFL lifestyle. And it was the reason for him not getting a chance at AFL level and ultimately his delisting, not his football ability.

Fremantle gave him an SSP chance after all 17 clubs overlooked him in the National and Rookie Drafts. By his own admission, the wake-up call of being delisted was pivotal to his turnaround.

If we’d kept him, there’s no guarantee he’d have had the same realisation. Instead, we held onto Jaiden Hunter, a player we took in the mid-season Draft that year, a player who impressed with his work ethic, and drafted Nate Caddy. With Wright, Langford, Stringer, and Jones already on the list, we were hardly short of key forward options.

4. Players Change Clubs All the Time

Stengle, Hinge, Keays, Keane, Ben Long. All have thrived after leaving their original clubs. We celebrate the clubs who got the best out of them, not bury the clubs who moved them on. Our own Liam McMahon, who (admittedly from a small sample size) has a better goal average than Pat Voss was let go by Collingwood and overlooked by Carlton.

Even Fremantle have lost quality players and moved on successfully. Lachie Schultz had a career best season before leaving Freo for the Pies. The future 1st Round pick Fremantle got for him they used to get both Shai Bolton and Murphy Reid. It’s part of the game.

5. The Draper Reality

Sam Draper loves the Essendon Football Club. He’s been offered a fair deal by Essendon, a four year deal with an option for a fifth if he triggers it.

He’s not the “captain in waiting.” He’s not in the leadership group. He's not played more than 16 games in a season, he's never been Top 10 in our Best and Fairest. He might be a spiritual leader, but a future captain he is not. And if he leaves, it will be for a longer-term, higher-value contract elsewhere. Not because of a “cultural crisis.”

Other clubs are losing key players. Including current captains, without having their culture questioned. Co-Captain of West Coast, Oscar Allen looks set to leave. North Melbourne is looking down the barrel of their sixth season in a row with 4 or less wins. Yet Essendon’s culture is somehow under siege over a ruckman with 78 games in six seasons, plagued by injuries, in a role we have depth in.

The Real Story

Patrick Voss’ resurgence is a great story - for him, and for Fremantle. It could have been told as an inspiring second-chance tale.

Instead, we got a lazy, sensationalist narrative aimed at framing Essendon as broken.

We know we’re not where we want to be as a football club. But we’re closer than we were when Voss left and part of that progress comes from setting and enforcing standards. We are a better football club for letting Pat Voss go, not because of Pat Voss, but because of the message it sent to the remainder of the playing group and what we now stood for as a football club.

That’s what this is about. Not Voss. Not Draper. Not a mythical “gullible” fan base.

It’s about what it means and what it takes to be an Essendon player going forward.

You can listen to the full episode here.

Photo from AFL.com.au