When the Essendon chairman, CEO, captain and captain-in-waiting boarded a plane to fly across the country to speak to John Worsfold they flew out for a job offer not a job interview. They already knew they needed Worsfold they needed to know if he needed them as much.
Their move put a wrinkle in the thinking of the broad Essendon fandom and, primarily, the other potential coaching candidates, that there was a fair and rigorous selection process in place.
The extravagant flight signalled to other potential candidates that they were outsiders from the outset. From inside Essendon, Brendan McCartney knew that; Scott Burns, as a friend and former colleague of Worsfold's of course knew it too. If Woosha wanted the job, they knew it was his.
For Worsfold not to be appointed after that cross-country flight - if he wanted the job - would have been surprising at best and not more than a little bit humiliating for Worsfold.
In the end Woosha wanted it and he got it. It was no surprise, not only because the Bombers telegraphed their move but because he could well be the right man for the job.
This is a team that has been as broken as any we have seen since … Worsfold led the last broken team out of an abyss.
That is the compelling reason for his appointment beyond the flags he has won or the game plan he preaches. His experience was unique, Essendon's position similarly so.
Daniel Chick's comments last week muddied the waters of responsibility and culpability around the decline of that Eagles team but his comments can also be put in the light of a recovering drug addict seemingly deferring blame for his actions and frailties to others rather than himself.
That Worsfold was in charge when that team suffered its painful fall is worth consideration. That he was in charge when they confronted and overhauled that culture and put the pieces of the club back together was worth his appointment.
Far from hurting Worsfold's coaching credentials, the West Coast experience has enhanced them.
The misgivings of some Essendon fans is whether they have made a safe but unimaginative choice, whether instead they should have hunted for and found the next young long term coach to grow with the team. This presupposes much about Worsfold that might be unfair.
Worsfold might not present as a tactical innovator, but he does present as a person able to develop people in a team and a football department. He provides the comforting figure of authority - importantly from someone unburdened by any historic connection to the club - what this team and club requires.
The Essendon players were craving an experienced figure with a hard edge and Worsfold offers that.
The unstated message from the first press conference was that there would be half a rebuild of the team and a full rebuild of a culture, or rather, environment.
That Essendon boarded that plane to get Worsfold, that they appeared to pay only lip service to a process will matter not a jot if they arrived at the right result anyway. There is no fair reason to think they haven't.
