Former AFL club captains Garry Lyon and Tim Watson have pondered the question whether Essendon holds the mantle of the league’s biggest club.
The Bombers announced yesterday a $5 million profit in 2017, emphatically bouncing back from the supplements saga. Furthermore, Essendon also generated $65.2 million in revenue and attracted 67,768 members, capping off a tremendous off-field result.
“I am staggered with what Essendon has been able to achieve,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“I think this club is potentially the biggest in the competition because of what they’ve been able to do on the back of horrendous circumstances.”
Throughout the 2016 financial year, the Dons operated under a $9.8 million loss, with the collateral damage of the longstanding supplements saga taking affect. Former Essendon captain Watson believes the immense turnover is a credit to CEO Xavier Campbell, who has led the charge off the field, a belief that flowed onto the fans and stakeholders.
“I don’t know if any CEO in the history of sport in this country has ever been faced with a more difficult situation than what he faced as a young CEO who had no experience at the time,” he said.
“He has done an amazing job.
“The fact that the supporters have copped so much over that time, they stuck fat, even though a lot of them would have disagreed with what happened, while others would have had blind loyalty to the football club.
“Sponsors, at that time through that darkest period, the story was Essendon is going to lose all their sponsorship, but they didn’t lose any of those sponsors. They actually grew their sponsors during that time, which would have been a difficult negotiation for Xavier and other people.”
Despite the strong financial results, the Dons capitulated in the Elimination Final against the Sydney Swans, bowing out of their first finals appearance since 2014 by 65-points.
An active offseason has seen the Bombers acquire Jake Stringer, Adam Saad and Devon Smith, and while the three-time premiership player admits adjustments need to be made, he remains confident in the list John Worsfold has at his disposal.
“If you’re going to play an attacking game of football, it means you’re going to give up a bit of defence,” Watson said.
“I think there needs to be more balance attached to the way they play because I don’t think they will be able to get back up in the top echelon unless they actually do that.
“They’re building a more talented list, they did extremely well in the offseason period and they have got some good young kids there who we haven’t seen a lot of.
“Aaron Francis we haven’t seen a lot of, Jordan Ridley is a good kid and Darcy Parish has a lot of development in him. There is a lot to work with there.
“The midfield needs a little bit of regeneration and some more talent in that part of the ground.”
Essendon begins season 2018 on Friday March 23 against the Adelaide Crows in a Friday night blockbuster at Etihad Stadium.