Essendon People Performance Manager, Luke Ball, said he is impressed with the leadership and vision displayed by the players in his first few weeks at the Club.

Ball joined the Bombers in January and with over 15 years in football, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the Club.

“It’s great to be here, I’m really enjoying being back at club land. It has been three years since I’ve been out and really enjoying my first couple of weeks here, I’ve been super impressed,” Ball said.

“I’m really impressed with the leadership group. The first couple of weeks you are a fly on the wall, one thing that has really stood out is the player empowerment.

“In majority of the meetings, whether it be footy or otherwise related, it is really strongly driven by the players.

“We had a values session this week, clearly coming out of a difficult few years, we are working towards a period now that will be a lot more settled.

“In our values meeting, all the players and the footy department were invited to be involved and give their feedback as to what it means to them - there were some good discussions that came out of that.”

Ball’s new position at Essendon will see him working closely with players and coaches to guide and assist in their personal development.

“From a coaching point of view, personal development is really important. We have a relatively young, inexperienced coaching group under John, Neeldy and Harvs,” Ball said.

“I’ll be working on facilitating opportunities for them to grow and develop, that clearly links with the players as well, particularly the leadership group and the young, emerging group of leaders.

“I will be working closely with Lisa who is the GM People and Culture, and Dan Richardson.”

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