‘Smokin’ Joe Misiti is a name synonymous with Essendon’s success in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A prolific 236-gamer and two-time premiership hero, Misiti was a midfield maestro and fan favourite throughout his AFL career.
While his 13-year career at Windy Hill showed the passion Misiti possessed for the club, his love for the red and black was cemented much earlier in his life.
After his father Nick migrated from Italy to Australia, Misiti and his family resided in Essendon during his formative years.
It was in those years where his father stumbled across a Saturday afternoon VFL game at Windy Hill with his brother, which spurred curiosity about Australia’s native game.
“The first time him (Dad) and his brother talked about footy was when they were outside of Windy Hill and they heard a big roar, and they thought, 'What’s this?',” Misiti said on new historical podcast Fabric of the Essendon Football Club.
“They snuck under the back fence, and they saw all these people in shorts and jumpers chasing around a bit of leather and thought, 'This game looks alright'.
“Since they could afford to go, they went to every home game as kids, and they started taking me and my brother when we were kids.”
>>> LISTEN BELOW TO MISITI ON FABRIC OF THE ESSENDON FOOTBALL CLUB
It was his father’s and uncle’s curious nature which resulted in a diehard love of the Bombers for the entire Misiti family.
His father’s chance encounter would also ensure Misiti pursued playing football at a junior level, where another lifelong red and black connection would ultimately culminate.
After moving from Essendon to East Keilor, Misiti met a future legend of the Bombers when he struck up a friendship with Mark Mercuri.
And despite his dominance as a member of Essendon’s famous ’93 and 2000 premiership teams, Misiti had to entice a late-blooming Mercuri to play with local EDFL side Keilor Park which kick-started a Bombers bromance.
“’Mercs’ is a legend of a man and one of the best players I played with,” Misiti said.
“We both got asked to train for the Victorian Primary School side and we went down and trained.
“As the training session went on, they started knocking kids out and Mercs and I went in and we ended making the side.
“Mercs didn’t play his first game until he was 14 years old, his mum wouldn’t let him because she thought it was too rough. We managed to talk him into coming to Keilor Park, and suddenly this Mercuri bloke lobbed up from nowhere and just dominated from day dot.
“We both started at Keilor Park and we retired in the same year at Essendon. It’s been a pretty close relationship all the way through.”
Fabric of the Essendon Football Club is a weekly 20-episode series powered by Liberty, featuring in-depth chats between club historian Dan Eddy and 20 of the club’s most adored names across multiple decades. You can listen via Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.
