Call it what you like.
What has she achieved in her nearly nine years ?
In my wise opinion, 9 years is a long time to be a Board Member, though the EFC Constitution allows 12 years.
Sheâs the prettiest girl on the board and should stay the next three years.
Still donât understand why this is an issue.
Itâs not.
In fact, I think there should always be at least one non-supporter on the board. Especially at a club like Essendon where there seems to be a long-held concept of âwe do things the Essendon wayâ despite it repeatedly failing for multiple decades now. A constant qualified, but non-parochial, presence could be beneficial.
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Except if that person is dorothy hisgrove (collingwood supporter) who had a big part to play in the thorburn appointment.
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Iâm confused by your 2 posts on this topic. So does that mean she isnât supporting an exit from pokies or she is? I havenât seen any statement from her one way or another?
Based on the votes in 2023 and 2024, there are plenty of members who would vote for an anti-pokies candidate, so we should be careful to say someone holds that position when there is nothing on the record saying this.
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Shout out to everyone who has put up their hand for a board position spot. I reckon it takes a lot of courage to be out there and especially doing direct Q&A feedback on Blitzđ
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The current board as a group are working towards positioning the club to exit pokies.
Youâre not going to get a majority to vote on exiting pokies when Govt grant money is getting you over the line in terms of a profit. Club desperately needs on field success. No doubt Welsh and board knows that too. Membership is declining as we are topping up numbers to get to $80k. That would flow on to declining merchandise sales etc.
Its a very nice idea to get off pokies but also just not realistic right now why it helps keep the club financially stable. Sad but reality
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Bottom line is this:
Footy Operations delivered a loss of $2.8M in 2025. Removing grants and fundraising ($1.6M), footy operating result was therefore a $4.4M loss
I challenge any member to understand the clubs current financial trading environment and how a responsible Board can exit a pillar that is supporting the football operations.. IMO, candidates standing for this as a central driver of their candidacy are not putting the clubs interests first. Thatâs why Iâm voting for the incumbents.
Once the footy performance improves, the operating results will enable the club to rebuild its financial strength and enable it to build a stronger business model. When that becomes a reality the club can responsibility exit pokies.
Until then, I think weâre best to support the current strategy and direction of the Board.
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Ok, so what has the current board done to try strengthen the financial position of Essendon? I would have thought that is an important function of the board.
I see a lot of just holding on to things and fingers crossed for the best, but donât really see anything toward actively trying to improve the financial position of Essendon. Which makes me err toward wanting to disrupt the status quo and bring in people willing to make things happen.
Just to add so a strawman doesnât get built: While my strong preference is Essendon ditches the pokies, this statement is entirely independent of that. If they cannot do that in a financially viable manner yet, fine. I can accept that. But things can (and should) also be done around that.
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IMO, the clubs efforts to rebuild the financial strength of the club have been hampered by the poor football performance. Thatâs the reality. It has also I think been slow to action new initiatives, I agree.
It has done a few things however. It rented aspects of The Hangar to Western United until it collapsed. This generated ~$400K annual revenue until it ceased. It has also tried to grow Windy Hills financial returns through the AFLW fixture, trying to get crowds of 5K to matches to support the precinct returns. Last year it offered supporters opportunities to buy a âplaqueâ with their name on a seat in the Reynolds Stand. I understand it sold around 150 of these.
My criticism of the Board is it has for too long hoped footy would improve and thus would help solve other problems like footy operations and financial performance. It has been too slow to build a non footy business model. Problem is, it holds limited cash and it doesnât want to go into more debt, especially given it will need to fund capital improvements at The Hangar medium term.
I disagree the Board needs disruptive influences. I think the Board is functioning well presently and overall the Club is positioned on a good path. On that basis, disrupters arenât the solution.
Just on the mention of strawmen, any discussion on why the club apparently canât afford to exit pokies at present seems to ignore:
A) that any exit would be part of a plan which would incude replacement revenue.
B) that the board should be committing to making such an exit, or if thatâs not their intention, otherwise own their position.
I mean we can all sit here and give excuses as to why the club canât win a premiership at present but we would at least expect them to be serious about showing some ambition.
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See, Iâd prefer the club went the other way on this. I think Windy Hill is a needless money pit now. Commit to The Hangar, play AFLW home games (until the The Hangar is sufficiently developed) at grounds like Piranha Park, Ikon Park, North Port Oval. VFL/VFLW games are already played at The Hangar, so no issues there. ADD: Probably need to be Ikon (and potentially Whitten Oval?) due to cricket at the other two, but both have coped with more than two games per week in previous seasons.
But otherwise, thanks for the detailed answer (Iâd completely forgotten about the Western United thing), and I can see where you are coming from.
just have a look at the Yankees and model your replica and other goods on that. The goods Essendon sells at the bomber shop are okay but not great and that would be a way to at least bring in some extra money.
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Another easy win is a discord group that you pay to be part of each year that all the playing group are in. They are there to add content which is largely done through the social media team but they also give opportunities to pay for more experiences like being in a quarter time huddle or or doing a gym session with the team and Matt Inness
A bit of a shame we know virtually nothing about anyone running except existing board members. Such a tiny spiel for each. I know I wonât vote for any existing board member, so have to decide whoâs the lesser evil of what is left.
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Not even woosha?
Part of the rigged election. Candidates are denied the opportunity to contact Voters as they get no access to Voter contact details.
So Candidates have few option other than a two hundred written profile which doesnât tell us much. They can come on BBlitz or other social media but risk getting abused by the feral muppets that linger around.
I agree that the election process is hopelessly skewed towards the Board getting their own nominees voted in.
There should be a on-line âTown Hallâ meeting that is moderated by a neutral host who invites the Candidates to take questions in real time. A 1 hour maximum meeting would at least give the members a far better understanding of who is running and what they stand for.
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