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“You are a mess”: Bombers unhappy with Lethal’s criticism
Andrew Slevison • August 4th, 2026 10:18 am
Essendon did not like comments made by Leigh Matthews over the weekend.
The V/AFL legend said he would have zero confidence in pursuing the Bombers coaching job under the existing regime.
Matthews, a director at the Brisbane Lions, was outspoken with his comments on 3AW.
“From the outside I said, ‘Oh well, good luck’. If I was a coach, I wouldn’t be going to Essendon,” Lethal said.
“If you desperately want a job, you just go for it, right? But, anyone who has choices ain’t going to Essendon.
“A coach is only as good as what’s around him in players and staff, and support from the top. For me, from the outside, I don’t know the Essendon people that well, but I would have no confidence to coach under that regime.”
Caro: Dons unhappy; no Lions apology
Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson reported on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters on Monday night that the Dons were not happy with those words.
Wilson says that the club’s chief executive made contact with the Lions given Matthews has an official role there.
“I can tell you that Essendon CEO Tim Roberts was made aware of these comments and sent a transcript to the AFL and asked them what the AFL was going to do about it,” Wilson said.
“The AFL pointed out that this was a club issue so Essendon chairman Andrew Welsh contacted Brisbane chairman Andrew Wellington over the weekend and expressed his displeasure that a Brisbane director would make those comments about the Essendon Football Club.
“Andrew Wellington made it clear to Andrew Welsh that Leigh’s comments were not the views of the Brisbane board or the Brisbane Football Club and that Leigh was speaking in his independent capacity as a commentator.
“No apology from Andrew Wellington to Andrew Welsh. I think it just highlights how sensitive things are at Essendon at the moment.
“It’s interesting that Essendon were so angered at a pretty sensitive time in their coaching search.”
Cornes: “You are a mess”
There have been plenty of different perspectives in the aftermath, the strongest being from Kane Cornes.
He reckons the Bombers are a mess, suggesting their complaining is “embarrassing”.
“Leigh has done nothing wrong. His comments were fair, his comments were reflective of a lot of people in the industry - not everyone,” Cornes said.
“But most people would listen to that and say it’s fair, as Leigh often is.
“When you are a mess of a footy club, take your medicine. Don’t pick up the phone to the AFL and dob in someone who is on a platform that everyone can hear. ‘Oh, did you hear what this person said about us? We’re upset’.
“You are a mess of a football club. All you can do right now is keep it in-house, pick the right person for the job and rebuild slowly through actions, not by words, not by picking up the phone and having a sook, dobbing in a commentator like you’re in the schoolyard.
“That’s embarrassing for Essendon.”
Dons great reacts
Tim Watson reacted to the story on SEN Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
The premiership Bomber believes the club has much bigger issues on its plate at this point in time.
“Leigh is very considered and has powerful conversations from time to time, and he’s very direct in what he has to say,” said the former club captain.
“He’s not somebody that goes out there looking for clickbait, he’s not a hot-taker.
“There’s enough evidence around to suggest that what he’s saying not completely untrue either. I don’t know whether I would have gone to that degree had I been Essendon that I thought, ‘Ok, I need to go to the AFL and get some sort of comment from them’.”
Is there an insecurity at the Dons at the moment?
Watson replied: “I think there’s a lot going on at the club at the moment. They’re staring down the wooden spoon, they haven’t got a coach.
“I would have thought you’ve got much bigger things to worry about than dobbing someone in about what they’ve said.
“I would think the best thing you can do in this business is point at the scorecard. At the moment their scorecard looks miserable, but when it looks better you can point at it and say this is where we’re at.
“But they’ve got a long way to go before they are at that point.”
Listen to the SEN Breakfast chat below:
