'They should have ended his term 12-months ago'

Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd believes Essendon should have fired John Worsfold 12-months ago as he hit back at criticism from the embattled coach.

Lloyd, like many Essendon fans, was left at a loss for words after last week's listless performance against Geelong and launched a stunning takedown of where the club was at.

In response, Worsfold proclaimed Lloyd was "a commentator not a journalist...making comments as someone who has to earn his pay."

After starting out the season winning five of its first seven games, Essendon has managed just two wins in their past nine matches, both against teams below them in Adelaide and Hawthorn.

Off the back of another stunning loss to ladder-leaders Port Adelaide on Saturday night, Lloyd fired back at Worsfold and revealed he had received a groundswell of support from the club's frustrated fanbase.

"I've never made one comment in my life for a pay-packet, it's always trying to be fair across the board," he told Nine's Sunday Footy Show. "What I see, I go with.

"He [Worsfold] also said I hadn't garnered much support with my comments. I've never had so many Essendon people get in touch to say thank you. Thank you for showing some passion, because there's no passion. There's no emotion. There's no conviction. They're at their wits' end.

"For him to come out there yesterday and talk about where we're at, we're a young team this and that. It was just another piece of John just confusing everyone with his mixed messages.

"There's no emotion out of Rutten, there's no emotion out of Worsfold. I think people have liked seeing me show passion in where I want the club to get to. When unfortunately no one internally really is."

Asked by fellow panelist Tony Jones, "in a nutshell, what do you want to say to Worsfold", Lloyd was blunt.

"Thank you for taking over at a time when the club was an absolute mess in regards to the supplement saga, but I think they should have ended John's term 12-months ago."

Under CEO Xavier Campbell and Worsfold's leadership, Essendon has been able to recover off the field after the disastrous financial impact brought about from the supplements scandal.

However, in doing so, Lloyd believed that the club had lost focus on the main business: winning football matches.

"That's half the problem," he told 3AW earlier this week.

"It's been a lot about off-field and getting E-sports or whatever, but it's about on-field performance now.

"I know you've got to get your club right off the field in terms of how it looks financially, but sometimes we take our mind off the core business which is on-field, which I think Essendon has."

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