St Essington's Day - 25 August 2023

It was foretold that on the day that it was no longer mathematically possible for Essendon to make the finals, that day shall be known as “St Essington’s Day”

Below I have listed some of the most recent St Essington’s Days.

2005

Sunday August 14th 2005 - Round 20
After Losing to Hawthorn in round 20. With 28 points and with two Games Remaining, it was not possible to finish 8th with Fremantle in 8th on 40 points.

Round 20
Total Points: 28
Games Remaining: 2
8th Spot: Freo 40 pts

Final Ladder Position 13 out of 16

2006

Sunday 23 July 2006 - Round 16
Drawing with Carlton did us no favours, as Freo beat Melbourne the day after, ensuring yet another September is free on our calendars.

Round 16
Total Points: 16
Games Remaining: 6
8th Spot: Freo 36 pts

Final Ladder Position 15 out of 16

2007

Friday 31 August 2007 - Round 22
The latest on record and right before eve of the finals. Perfect send of for Hird and Sheedy. Fell on the first game of round 22 after Adeliade beat Collingwood.

Round 22
Total Points: 40
Games Remaining: 1
8th Spot: Adelaide 48 pts

Final Ladder Position 12 out of 16

2008

Sunday 17 August 2008 - Round 20
Another Round 20 St Essingtons day. After failing to beat Adeliade on the Saturday, St Kild beat Fremantle.

Round 20
Total Points: 32
Games Remaining: 2
8th Spot: St Kilda 44 pts

Final Ladder Position 12 out of 16

2009

Did Not Fall
No St Essingtons Day this year. Addidas even Acknowledged it by releasing the droopiest ever sash in history.

2010

Friday 13 August 2010 - Round 20
A 98 point loss to Collingwood sealed 2010 up.

Round 20
Total Points: 28
Games Remaining: 2
8th Spot: Hawthorn 42 pts

Final Ladder Position 14 out of 16

2011

Did Not Fall
No St Essingtons Day this year.

2012

Sunday 26 August 2012 - Round 22
A Friday not loss and a Fremantle win on Sunday saw St Essington’s day yet again fall right before the finals. To honour this, the club released a new ‘heritage’ jumper.

Round 22
Total Points: 44
Games Remaining: 1
8th Spot: Fremantle 48 pts

Final Ladder Position 11 out of 18

2013

Tuesday 5 February 2013
Fell that early the club was fined $2 million.

2014

Did Not Fall
No St Essingtons Day this year. Club was able to recoup some of the 2013 fine.

2015

Sunday 8 August 2015 - Round 19
Geelong beat Sydney a day before we lost to GWS for the first time ever.

Round 19
Total Points: 20
Games Remaining: 4
8th Spot: Geelong 42 pts

Final Ladder Position 15 out of 18

2016

Sunday 10 July 2016 - Round 16
Almost ten years since the earliest known St Essingtons day, 2016 fell Mid July. Coincidentally, the club also released a new ‘clash’ strip this year.

Round 16
Total Points: 4
Games Remaining: 7
8th Spot: Norf Melbourne 40 pts

Final Ladder Position 18 out of 18

2017

Did Not Fall
No St Essingtons Day this year.

2018

Saturday 25 August 2018 - Round 23
It’s happened again. This one went right down to the wire, too little too late. Geelongs win over Gold Coast saw them retain the also rans spot this year.

Round 23
Total Points: 48
Games Remaining: 0
8th Spot: Geelong 48 pts

Final Ladder Position 11 out of 18

2019

Did Not Fall
No St Essingtons Day this year.

5 Likes

Glad I forgot when the season started this year.

1 Like

Actualy lol’d at that one.

2 Likes

Here’s some ‘essington’ for you to all chuckle about:

July 9 2016
Matthew Lloyd
Travis Cloke has been on my mind more than a few times this year. As a media commentator I’ve wondered whether he has been low on confidence or whether the game may well have passed him by. However, those thoughts are always superseded by something far more important – what is the personal toll on a player of this type of scrutiny?

I’ll never forget my 2008 season – it was my lowest ebb as a player. Essendon were on a seven-game losing streak, and I was playing poorly. Given the amount of pressure I was under from the media through that period I have some inkling of what Cloke has endured this season.

Collingwood’s Travis Cloke is searching for ways to find form.
Collingwood’s Travis Cloke is searching for ways to find form. Photo: Getty Images
In Matthew Knights’ first season as Essendon coach we didn’t register a win from rounds four to 11. In those seven losses I had less than 10 possessions in five of them, including the last one against Hawthorn in round 11 when I had a shocker. We lost by 51 points and Lance Franklin kicked nine goals and five behinds in the massacre.

I was captain at the time and I remember leaving Etihad Stadium that Friday night avoiding eye contact with everyone while carrying a knot in my stomach. I felt I had hit rock bottom as a footballer after 241 games. In my own mind, I was an embarrassment and just wasn’t up to it anymore.

Matthew Lloyd with former Essendon teammates Andrew Welsh (centre) and David Hille in 2008.
Matthew Lloyd with former Essendon teammates Andrew Welsh (centre) and David Hille in 2008.
I’ll also never forget seeing a young Paddy Ryder still in his playing gear, slumped on the ground with his head in his hands in tears after being left on Franklin all night and given no defensive support. As his captain and teammate, it broke my heart to see him so upset and in that much distress. I could not say or do anything because I was in just as big a hole, if not bigger.

Back then we would do a recovery session straight after the game back at Windy Hill and, as I drove back there, I turned on Triple M to listen to some music to take my mind off the game. Unfortunately, the footy broadcast was still wrapping up and my embarrassment turned to anger as I had the mickey taken out of me – the commentators gave me three votes for worst on ground. I despise that sort of sledging.

The following few days saw a brutal assessment of many Bombers on all media fronts, including an article by the Herald Sun’s Mike Sheahan. The Age’s Rohan Connolly thought that it was time I was dropped to the Bendigo Bombers. I was under siege and, while trying to maintain that I was fine, in reality I’d become a recluse. I’d only go to training and then straight back home again, because I didn’t want to speak to anyone I didn’t have to. I felt like everyone was judging me and had an opinion on how I could do things better, which was the last thing I wanted or needed.

The following week in round 12 we were to play the West Coast Eagles at Etihad Stadium in another big Friday night clash. The Hawthorn review on the Monday beforehand was brutal from Knights and I was well and truly in the firing line due to some less than adequate efforts to compete in the air or chase out of the forward line. Slumped in my chair in the auditorium copping the barrage, I looked at the vision and thought, ‘Who is that person?’ I looked like a player paralysed by fear of making another mistake, but I sat there and copped it as my efforts just weren’t good enough and that wasn’t the time to offer any excuses.

On the Tuesday morning before training Knights called out to me and asked me to follow him into his office. It was the longest 15-second walk. I thought to myself, ‘This is it, I’m gone. How have I gone from captain one minute to a Bendigo VFL player the next’? I had never been so relieved when I heard him say, 'We need to try something different and you will be playing higher up the ground as a half-forward this week. I was safe for another week at least, I thought, as I was in survival mode by that stage. What a mindset.

I got home from training and my wife Lisa said that we were going to her sister’s house for dinner. When we got there it wasn’t just the four of us but also their family priest, Father Justin, who they had known for many years. After dinner the table cleared and it was just Father Justin and I sitting there. I’d never met him before this night, but he asked, ‘How are you holding up?’ As I always replied, I said, ‘I’m good thanks’. His response was, ‘No, you are not. You look pale, withdrawn, distant and absolutely miserable’. It’s fair to say I was taken aback.

I didn’t open up much to him that night, but he said, ‘Come and see me tomorrow at my parish as I also specialise in family counselling’. Through pressure from Lisa, I went the next morning, but on the drive was thinking, ‘Why am I wasting my day off doing this?’

Father Justin didn’t mess around and asked me a few deep questions straight off the bat about how I viewed myself and what I was thinking and feeling while out on the football field. Before I knew it, I was crying. With tears streaming down my face I poured my heart out to this relative stranger on how I was at rock bottom and had lost belief in my ability to play the game.

With tears streaming down my face I poured my heart out to this relative stranger on how I was at rock bottom and had lost belief in my ability to play the game

I left his room an hour later emotionally drained but feeling much better for getting all I needed to off my chest. It was like a huge weight had jumped off my back. Two days later with a different focus and mindset, I had 21 possessions, kicked two goals and took nine marks from a half-forward flank and we beat the Eagles by 22 points to break our losing streak.

I saw Father Justin every Wednesday for the rest of my career, He became the sounding board I needed away from football. He helped me rebuild my confidence as we went on to win six of our next seven games and my footy improved dramatically.

That’s how powerful the mind is and, when I look back now, I realise that the key to rebuilding was not letting the game define me.

It is hard not to let AFL football be all-consuming in such a tough, competitive environment. But everyone in the industry has a role to play and you should never concern yourself with what you cannot control.

As Travis Cloke continues the battle to regain his confidence - and he seems to have done that yesterday - I hope he can realise this and screen out the noise. That’s the advice I’d also offer my younger self.

Ahhhh… the good old days when the biggest outrages were LeCras kicking 12 and Benzina’s droopy sash crusade…

And here's the actual finishing academy for all players partaking in the Essington Way (turns out our NT zone is in fact Darwin):

[note the significance of the motto: To Strive (to hit up a team mate by foot) To Seek (your opponent after you fail to do so) To Find (he is already lining up for goal from the goal square)]

Boat needs to be upside down or better yet doing a Titanic

Sails aren’t droopy enough.

Didn't Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

If he did, it’s the only goal he’s missed in his whole AFL career. Kids kicked 8 goals 1 behind.

Great record. Maybe it was someone else. I remember someone running into an open goal, on a 30 deg angle, and missing from a few feet.

Langford?

Maybe? I remember thinking it was uncharacteristic. Like Stokes’ miss early this season against GC.

Didn't Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

If he did, it’s the only goal he’s missed in his whole AFL career. Kids kicked 8 goals 1 behind.

Great record. Maybe it was someone else. I remember someone running into an open goal, on a 30 deg angle, and missing from a few feet.

Langford?

And here's the actual finishing academy for all players partaking in the Essington Way (turns out our NT zone is in fact Darwin):

[note the significance of the motto: To Strive (to hit up a team mate by foot) To Seek (your opponent after you fail to do so) To Find (he is already lining up for goal from the goal square)]

Boat needs to be upside down or better yet doing a Titanic

Didn't Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

If he did, it’s the only goal he’s missed in his whole AFL career. Kids kicked 8 goals 1 behind.

Great record. Maybe it was someone else. I remember someone running into an open goal, on a 30 deg angle, and missing from a few feet.

TBC missed a couple of shockers from the goal square. Joke Cokelisle also missed a couple of gimmies directly infront

Didn't Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

If he did, it’s the only goal he’s missed in his whole AFL career. Kids kicked 8 goals 1 behind.

Great record. Maybe it was someone else. I remember someone running into an open goal, on a 30 deg angle, and missing from a few feet.

Didn't Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

If he did, it’s the only goal he’s missed in his whole AFL career. Kids kicked 8 goals 1 behind.

I still believe that March 26th 2010 is the day the wheels started to come off.
Jay Neagle?
Can't believe Neagle played on.
Oh, and who could forget this epic moment from Neagle, at 2:20 onwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPjr9CDrM0o

Yep.

The premiership window closed in 01-02, and we endured a few dark years as is common place. We had a new coach who was constantly under the hydraulic press with “IS NOT SHEEDS” written on the side, but a decent showing on 2009 gave us some hope - we’re finally on the up. Round 1, we have the reigning premiers on the ropes and all the momentum.

Then that happened.

Every single page in the story of Essendon since that exact moment and up to today ends with “and then things got worse”

Didn’t Laverde miss from the goal square last year?

And here's the actual finishing academy for all players partaking in the Essington Way (turns out our NT zone is in fact Darwin):

[note the significance of the motto: To Strive (to hit up a team mate by foot) To Seek (your opponent after you fail to do so) To Find (he is already lining up for goal from the goal square)]

My wife used to teach there & my youngest daughter went there.
And I was born & bred in suburban Essendon - coincidence, I think not!

WTF was he thinking ???

WSPHU

Is that the Zantuck who currently heads up The Essingtonians coterie group?

WTF was he thinking ???

Probably the most Essington kick of all time.

Didn’t he con the umpire to even get the kick? Memory is kinda blurred.

I remember him conning the umpire into giving him a free kick when we kicked it OOBOTF against Freo once at Docklands one year.

Yeah that was the one I was thinking of.

Unbelievable.