Steven Alessio departs Windy Hill having played 166 games and kicked 183 goals. He was a member of the 2000 premiership side and the pre-season premiership side that season. He was named Essendon's best finals player in 2001. Achilles problems saw him play just 15 games for Essendon last season, he averaged 10 possessions per match and kicked 11 goals.
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said Alessio had been a wonderful servant of the Essendon Football Club. ""He was really the last of those players to walk off the street and say I want to play here. He spent 13 years at the club and has been a fantastic player for us. He has been excellent support in the ruck and taken a lot of pressure off full forwards with his goal-kicking,"" Sheedy said.
""He was also a great clubman who was extremely popular among the playing group, administration staff and supporters. He had an excellent sense of humour - he had an uncanny knack of putting the pressure of football into perspective,"" Sheedy said. ""I want to thank him for everything he has done for this club. I understand he will be nominating for the draft and I wish him well for the future.""
Daniel McAlister managed six games for Essendon during his six-season stay with the club. The strength of the team made it very difficult for him to cement a permanent place. ""I think it has been tough for a number of young players to break into and stay in the senior side in recent seasons because it has been so strong - Daniel was one of those players,"" Sheedy said. ""For a kid that didn't grow up with the game he has done really well. I always thought he would be a late improver and that still might be the case.""
Meanwhile, Essendon is continuing discussions with veteran big man Paul Salmon before making a decision on whether he plays on in 2003. ""We really want to sit down and talk further with him,"" Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson said. ""It has been a very hectic few days and we want to let the dust settle a bit. The AFL doesn't require our definitive pre-draft list until November 15th - nine days before the National Draft.""
The Essendon list submitted to the AFL was:
Jordan Bannister
Paul Barnard
Mark Bolton
Marc Bullen
Damian Cupido
James davies
Dustin Fletcher
Rob Forster-Knight
Shane Harvey
Aaron Henneman
David Hille
James Hird
Sam Hunt
Danny Jacobs
Jason Johnson
Mark Johnson
Matthew Lloyd
Scott Lucas
Cory McGrath
Adam McPhee
Mark Mercuri
Mark McVeigh
Joe Misiti
Gary Moorcroft
Simon O'Keefe
Damien Peverill
Adam Ramanauskas
Joel Reynolds
Ted Richards
Dean Rioli
Paul Salmon
Dean Solomon
Jobe Watson
Sean Wellman
Andrew Welsh
Veteran's List: Paul Salmon
