The clock has ticked well past 10pm when the last player leaves for the night.
This is the life of a VFL footballer.
From all corners of the footballing landscape, they’ve descended on Essendon hoping to get picked for a senior game or even find their way onto an AFL list.
By day they are students, tradesmen, business owners and office workers.
But when the sun goes down, they become professional footballers partaking in every bit of the training program their full-time and higher paid counterparts have completed earlier in the day.
“Basically these guys during the pre-season are training Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights,” Essendon VFL Coach Paul Corrigan said.
“They’ll arrive between 4:30pm and 5pm – a lot of them have University or full-time jobs throughout the day and then they’re arriving to prepare and start training.
“Sometimes they’re not off the track until 8:30pm and then they’ve got to complete their weights after that.
“Sometimes they’re not walking out of here until 10 o’clock at night.”
Players say they get used to the schedule and it can be ‘character building'.
Daniel Younan is a new recruit for the Bombers this year. He’s established himself as one of the best small forwards in the competition.
He played more than 50 games with Coburg before crossing to the Dons.
He also runs his own pest control business.
“It’s hard because when I get to training I switch the phone off, but when I switch the phone back on I’ve got six or seven missed calls and voicemails,” Younan said.
“But it keeps me disciplined – playing VFL footy gives me a routine which helps with work life.”
Essendon VFL Captain Nick O’Brien has sampled the life of full-time football.
He was on the Bombers AFL list for four seasons.
Now he combines a heavy training schedule with his job in real estate.
“There is great support from the Club … you wouldn’t be able to do it without that – Ash Brown (VFL Operations Manager) and Paul Corrigan have been fantastic helping me balance it all out,” O’Brien said.
“Now it’s getting into the really busy time of the year where I’m really looking forward to playing some good footy and hopefully having some wins early in the season.”
The Bombers VFL season gets underway against Sandringham on Saturday.
Players with hundreds of AFL games under their belt will run out alongside young hopefuls and seasoned VFL stars.
Their football backgrounds are varied, but their commitment to getting better is the same.
“They’re all here for different reasons,” Corrigan said.
“Some [VFL listed players] want to play the best VFL football they can, some have still got hopes of being ‘rookied’ or drafted one day.
“We’re just here to provide a resource where hopefully we can get the best football out of these guys and give them the opportunity to get to where they want to get to.”
