Essendon has confirmed it will not seek AFL assistance as it looks to maintain its independence from head office for as long as possible.
It emerged on Monday that Carlton were among 12 clubs who are set to seek AFL assistance as the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold.
The AFL recently received a line of credit of up to $600 million which will allow them to support struggling clubs while the league is in hiatus due to the current health epidemic.
In a letter to members on Tuesday, Essendon president Lindsay Tanner confirmed they would join the likes of Adelaide, Collingwood, West Coast, Hawthorn and Richmond in opting not to seek assistance from AFL House.
"As part of the AFL funding position moving forward, clubs are required to determine whether they will require additional funding from the AFL and as such become positioned as an ‘assisted club’,” Tanner said.
“Assisted clubs will be required to work closely with the AFL around in-depth club reporting and will also have to stringently work within AFL approved parameters with respect to expense management.
"And although the financial backing of the assisted club is guaranteed by the AFL, it is not lost on us that a significant portion of the club’s independence would be compromised.
"As such, we are determined to maintain our financial independence from the AFL for as long as possible, and therefore we will be classified what the AFL deems as an ‘unassisted club’ for the time being.
“But to be able to maintain this position will require strong leadership from CEO Xavier (Campbell) and his management team as well as support from our loyal members.”
The club also confirmed that by maintaining a position of independence from the AFL, it would make finding the funds to complete their multi-stage development of their training facility at Tullamarine more “complex”.
“Unlike any other club we are in the unique position whereby we are partway through the final stage of our expansion,” Tanner said.
“This began in October last year and was scheduled to be completed late this year. We are in the process of exploring our options with respect to the scope of the project more broadly and the existing financial contributions we have in place to support the project.”