Dear Members,

This is an exciting week for the Essendon Football Club.

The 2023 AFL Draft process has just concluded, and we are delighted to welcome Nate Caddy, Luamon Lual, Archie Roberts and Vigo Visentini to the Club as new members of the Bombers AFL squad. They have been rewarded for years of hard work and commitment to their craft and we are excited about the impact they can have at our Club over the journey.

Time moves fast in AFL football and our full AFL squad returns to preseason training this Monday. It was terrific to see so many players get a head-start on our important pre-season with many of our senior players returning early to train at the NEC Hangar. This is a good sign, and you can clearly see that the players share a sense of urgency and excitement about getting better both individually and as a team.

It was also excellent to see a strong group of our AFL players take the initiative and travel to Arizona for an intensive training block during their off-season break. These are important steps in any team's development and show that our players are committed to raising our standards and working hard to improve.

It was a busy Trade and Free Agency Period for the Club, and it is great to welcome Jade Gresham, Todd Goldstein, Xavier Duursma and Ben McKay to Essendon. We want to continue to strengthen our list at all available opportunities and the four players that we’ve brought in are all very talented and will add considerable depth and experience to our young playing group.

This will be an important pre-season for the Club. While we still have a young list, there is a clear sense of urgency to improve. This is the pleasing aspect of where we currently are at on our journey and I'm looking forward to witnessing the future organic growth of our players during the summer preseason period. There are clearly reasons to be optimistic about our season ahead and we want our members to share in that excitement, but as a Club, we need to focus on hard work and process, and this will be front of mind for Brad and our broader football department this off-season.

Driving back from GMHBA Stadium a couple of Sunday’s back, I reflected upon our second AFLW Season. There are so many positives to be proud of. Our team, led by Natalie Wood and our Co-Captains Bonnie Toogood and Steph Cain, showed great improvement to qualify for the AFLW Finals in just our second season. While the Elimination Final result was disappointing, Season 2023 has been a success. I might be biased, but I feel that every week our team has displayed a strong will to win, energy and excitement.

Bonnie Toogood and Maddie Prespakis were rewarded for their outstanding seasons with nominations in the All-Australian awards. Our Rising Star Steph Wales continues to show she has a bright future with a nomination for the second consecutive year and Amber Clarke was also rewarded with a nomination after her breakout game against Geelong. Defender Sophie Van De Heuvel has been voted into the 2023 AFLPA’s 22under22 following her outstanding year as a running defender.

On behalf of everyone at the Club, I congratulate all players, coaches and staff who have worked tirelessly on delivering a successful AFLW season for our club.

In 2023, we returned to the Club’s spiritual home, Windy Hill. The ground has been like a beacon for our Essendon Community. You’ve come in large numbers to our AFLW home games, and the team has harnessed the energy you generate, creating a genuine home ground advantage. We have been delighted to showcase the value of the Windy Hill precinct to our fans, members, AFL industry colleagues and the wider Essendon Community. We look forward to further cementing the precinct’s reputation and Community benefit.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our hard-working director, Tim Roberts, for the intellect and energy he has contributed to re-invigorating Windy Hill in Season 2023. Together with Mark Bolton and our hard-working Bombers staff, we are proud of what we were able to provide our AFLW Team and fans at Windy Hill in Season 2023. I look forward to working closely with Tim and Mark and our wider Board and Executive Team in 2024, on a broader strategic blueprint to further capitalise and maximise the benefits of the Windy Hill Precinct for our Bomber’s Teams and the wider Community.

This important preseason period is about strengthening ties with our existing Bomber Community, while also building new supporter networks. We are excited to launch our inaugural Members Fest on Saturday, December 9 and look forward to seeing our members at the NEC Hangar to watch our AFL team train and hear from your AFL and AFLW heroes. We will continue to share information for this important event in the coming weeks.

We thank all our members for your loyalty and commitment to our Club and we remain committed to working hard and giving our very best to deliver the success we are all craving for our great Club.

Go Bombers.

Craig Vozzo.

CEO, Essendon Football Club.