Bombers coach Ben Rutten safe for now – reports

Essendon coach Ben Rutten will reportedly stay in the role for the time being despite club president Paul Brasher’s looming exit.

Former Channel 10 sport boss David Barham is among the favourites to take over from Brasher, whose resignation could be confirmed on Monday.

The upheaval comes after a snap board meeting on Monday in the wake of a disastrous 84-point defeat to Port Adelaide.

It was a second consecutive embarrassing loss for the Bombers, following a 27-point defeat to GWS – one of only three teams below them on the AFL ladder.

Brasher has been one of Rutten’s biggest supporters through the mid-year football department review — which was led by football director Sean Wellman — and his impending departure had cast doubt over the coach’s future.

But multiple reports emerged after Monday’s board meeting declaring Rutten had not been sacked.

The 39-year-old is nearing the end of his second year as Bombers coach and is contracted for 2023.

His long-term future remains unclear, with further change expected at the top.

After the Power defeat, Rutten admitted the “embarrassing” performance was not one Essendon could not tolerate.

Bombers head coach Ben Rutten is reportedly safe for now. Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“Certainly it’s not a great result in terms of tonight’s performance, no question about that,” Rutten told reporters.

“It’s about us being really strong and really clear as a footy club and as a group of players about where we’re going and what we’re trying to build.

“It’s never going to be smooth sailing, clean progression to becoming a great team, but performances like that, it’s not stuff that we can tolerate or accept and we won’t.”

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said the Bombers “couldn’t be any further” from being a great football club, and called for a complete external review of operations.

“It’s been a disaster of a season … when you play with no spirit, and you play with no heart, it’s the way you lose,” Lloyd told AFL Media.

“That was as bad a loss as you could ever imagine with the lack of spirit, the lack of defensive pressure that they played with and that’ll fall on the coach.

“You’d expect something has to give whether it’s at board level, administration level, the coaching staff, you just can’t accept performances like that.”