Dear Members,  

I write to you today following the end to our AFL season on Friday night. 

I want to thank every single member for your unwavering support this season.

To break a club membership record has been an incredible achievement. 

The club asked you to stick with us during a period of change and a year of progress. You have done that.

You’ve supported us in the stands, watching your TVs, listening to your radios, and engaging with us online. Thank you! 

It's 12 months since I became President of Essendon.

2023 can be best summed up as a year of considerable growth. Some of this progress has been evident on the field, some has been more subtle, but equally effective off the field.

We are very realistic about where we’re at as a footy club and what is required to bring success back to Essendon. Every department of our football club is focused on delivering that. 

This year there have been some big changes - none more so than the appointment of Brad Scott as senior coach of our AFL team and Craig Vozzo as our CEO.

Brad has done an excellent job in his first season. He's gained the respect of all at the club, in particular the playing group. He's an experienced leader who will soon commence his first full off-season with the playing group, driving improvement and further growth.

In 2023 we’ve finished the season with 11 wins - up from seven wins last year – and were in the hunt for finals until the final rounds.

It was disappointing to miss the finals and the last two games were particularly disappointing. In a year characterised by dogged, determined performances, these last two matches were out of character and unacceptable to all.  

The reality is, we were not good enough to play September football. The ladder doesn’t lie, and our job is to accept where we are, put our heads down, and get better and that’s what we are doing.  

Essendon is working hard to build a strong football base from which we can launch successful finals campaigns for all our teams. We have invested heavily in player development and additional coaching resources and will be doubling down on this again next year.

There is a lot of work ahead. But this club is committed to doing everything properly, no matter how long that takes. Short-term fixes and sugar hits are not the key to long-term success. I have no doubt a well-considered strategic plan, a committed off-field organisation, a focused and hard-working football department of players and coaches, and unwavering support from our fans will bring results.

With a young team and in year one of a new era, there were fluctuations in performance, and, with a couple of exceptions, we have been a highly competitive team. However, our end to the season has not been good enough and will drive our off-season.

We’ve had some impressive wins against top sides in big games, including our win against Richmond for Dreamtime at the 'G in May, the first in nine years. The inaugural King’s Birthday Eve game saw a dominant win over Carlton and our trip to Gather Round saw us defeat top-four side Melbourne.

In our two games against Port Adelaide this year, we pushed them, going down by just five and four points, one of them due to an unbelievable kick after the siren from Dan Houston. In our annual Anzac Day match, we pushed Premiership contender Collingwood to the end.  

I would like to make special mention of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti. 'Walla' has been one of our true champions. A popular person both inside and outside the club, and especially popular with all our supporters. 'Walla' announced his retirement at the end of this season, after coming back for one last season to play under Brad Scott.  

We also say thank you to Andrew Phillips, who has also retired. 'Flip' has been a lion-hearted performer, and highly respected by everyone at the club.

And to Alastair Lord, Rhett Montgomerie and Cian McBride – we thank you for your time at Essendon.

In 2023 we conducted, and then implemented, an external review which has helped re-set our expectations and objectives. 

We appointed Dean Rioli as our first Indigenous director of the club. We instituted a First Nation’s Advisory Committee to help us as we re-engage with First Nation’s people. 

It is a privilege to work with a united board whose members are working hard across a variety of club activities. Four new directors – Tim Roberts, Andrew Welsh, Dean Rioli and David Wills - joined late last year and all have made a significant impact. 

Our new CEO Craig Vozzo, has done an outstanding job. Craig brings a skillset that significantly enhances a football-focused club and his knowledge of how to build a successful football program has been invaluable and is an asset for us moving forward.

Most importantly, what we have at this club now is stability, and stability for the long term. We are a united board, administration and team all pulling in the same direction. 

I know we are all impatient and want success for this club as soon as possible. As a life-long supporter myself – I also desperately want this, but we must learn from the past and recognise that the only way to sustained success is to build the right foundations. I’m extremely confident that what we have begun building this year has been a major step towards the ultimate success of an AFL Premiership.  

This club is owned by you, our members. No-one working inside the Essendon Football Club ever forgets this.  

More than one million fans attended our games this year. That is a magnificent number. As Brad Scott has observed many times throughout his first season as coach, our crowds, and the noise we create play a significant role in helping us to win games.

We are now excitedly looking forward to the start of the AFLW season on Saturday night. It will be a thrill to host several matches at our spiritual heartland Windy Hill. These will be great occasions, and we encourage everyone to return to our spiritual home and to support our AFLW team as they create even more memorable moments at that most famous of grounds. 

Thank you for continuing to support the Essendon Football Club.  

Everyone has a role in bringing success back to Essendon. United and working together, we will all be rewarded.

Go Bombers,

Dave.