Essendon great Tim Watson doesn’t believe the club made the wrong move by shifting their training base from Windy Hill to a new facility at Tullamarine.
His comments come on the back of a video released by the club’s website in previous days, which saw new coach Ben Rutten highlighting the importance of reconnecting to the Bombers’ roots at their spiritual home at Windy Hill.
Their state-of-the-art facility has two training ovals and an indoor training space, with more expansion on the site near Melbourne Airport mooted in coming years.
Watson said while Essendon tried “extremely hard” to stay, it ultimately wasn’t feasible due to the lack of space to expand at Windy Hill.
“I don’t think (it was a mistake) to leave Windy Hill because what they needed to do and wanted to do they weren’t able to do there,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“They tried extremely hard to stay, they did as much as they possibly could at the time – their facility and having the ovals where they are now, that would’ve been a problem for them at Windy Hill as it was a small ground.
“They possible could have expanded it a bit but it never would have been what they wanted it to be.”
Asked by Garry Lyon whether the club moving their headquarters away from their spiritual home had meant the club had lost its soul, Watson said it was up to the leaders at the club to define the culture, no matter where the club is based.
“You’d have to be there to understand whether it has lost some of it soul,” he said.
“The right person with the right ideas and right charisma is the person that can recreate what was there before.
“It will never be what Windy Hill, but a team can be successful no matter where they are.”
In a column penned last October in The Age, Caroline Wilson was critical of the club’s move to Tullamarine, saying the club had lost its soul by moving their training base.