From the Bendigo Advertiser.
www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/...
We want this deal to work: Jackson
LUKE WEST
30/09/2009 4:00:00 AM
OUTGOING Essendon managing director Peter Jackson believes the next two years for the Bendigo Bank Bombers are make or break for the VFL club.
Essendon and Bendigo have agreed to a new two-year alignment, extending a partnership that began in 2003 after being born from the Bendigo Diggers, and ensuring Bendigo’s involvement in the VFL until at least 2011.
The new deal came on the back of a disastrous season for Bendigo, with its senior team failing to win a game, its reserves winning just one, and the surface of its home ground, the Queen Elizabeth Oval, being deemed unsuitable by AFL Victoria to host VFL games in the second half of the year.
However, speaking exclusively to The Advertiser at Windy Hill, Jackson says Essendon never wavered from its commitment to making its alignment with Bendigo work during the lengthy negotiations, but acknowledges there is much work still to be done for the partnership to fully prosper.
“When we got involved with the Bendigo Diggers all those years ago in 2003, we always had a long-term plan,’’ Jackson said.
“It has been bumpy, and I think there have been a few things happen along the way that perhaps haven’t helped.
“I think this is probably make or break, it’s fair to say, but it’s make or break for a few different issues.
“In the first instance, Essendon was always committed to this alignment in that it gives us the football solution we need, which is the development of our young players through the VFL competition is important to us, and we want to have some sense of ownership over that development.
“There are other clubs in the VFL where they don’t play to the gameplan you want and don’t have the coach doing what you want, so we’ve heard some horror stories from other AFL clubs about their alignment.
“Any deliberations going forward before we made this decision to renew, the big consideration was, what’s the impact on our football development?
â€Equally, though, the Essendon Football Club has always had a long-term commitment to playing its part in developing the game.
“If we can develop a piece of area in Victoria, and that community respects us for what we’re trying to do and for the way we do it, that is important for us because we get brand recognition and enhancement over a number of years.
“It seems to make more sense to do that in a region like greater Bendigo, rather than just some inner suburban area of Melbourne.’’
With the decision to stick with Bendigo for at least the next two years, Jackson believes one of the crucial elements to the alignment working centres around the redevelopment of the QEO.
The City of Greater Bendigo acknowledged earlier this month the need for the QEO surface to be redeveloped, with the issue brought into the spotlight in June when the Bombers were forced to transfer their last four scheduled home games at the ground to Essendon’s Windy Hill.
While plans are still only in its infancy and subject to funding, it’s hoped works on a QEO surface overhaul could begin immediately after next year’s football season.
“The Bendigo Bank (Bombers’ naming rights sponsor) said it would stay involved with the Bendigo Bombers, providing Essendon worked with the bank and AFL Victoria to build sustainable pathways,’’ Jackson said.
“And part of that sustainable pathways is physical facilities.
“My understanding is the users of the QEO are coming together with a thought process that something has got to be done, and the council is sitting in the middle of it.
“If the QEO is not redeveloped to play AFL-standard football on a sustainable basis over the next two years then I don’t think you will see this alignment hold up - in fact, I’m sure you won’t.
“This is probably now the most critical thing, and it’s fantastic everybody is looking forward to doing that.
“Redeveloping it though is one half of the equation, the use of it is the other, because as I understand it, there are 90 games a year on the QEO, plus training sessions . . . the MCG couldn’t sustain that.
“But rather than look at that as a complaint or problem, I look at it as an opportunity.
“And the opportunity is how can we get some key stakeholders, including local, state and federal governments, involved in perhaps developing the QEO and other football facilities around the place so that the QEO can withstand the traffic and become a prime provincial sporting site at which AFL can be played in the pre-season.
“If that’s what comes out of this alignment, that would be a fantastic result.’’
Asked if Essendon would be prepared to commit financially to the QEO redevelopment, Jackson answered: “Part of the arrangement is we’re going to work with the Bendigo Bank to bring the right stakeholders together.
“We have contacts, we have networks; I’m not going to say that Essendon is going to put dollars in, but it will put a lot of in-kind effort in to make sure that happens.
“My understanding is it’s $1.5 million for the surface, which is absolutely a priority, and then after that there’s the other local facilities, and if the total comes to between $4 million and $5 million, that’s not a lot of money relative to a lot of other projects in developing community sporting facilities.
“I do understand that (amount of money) is probably a big deal for the local council, but what all the stakeholders need to do is convince people that it’s a good investment to strengthen the community.
“It’s not about playing VFL football, it’s about strengthening the community, and if you can build the QEO up and then get some flow-on to facility development elsewhere . . . sport is one of the pieces of mortar that holds bricks together in the community.’’
As part of the new two-year alignment deal, one of the major changes to the Bendigo Bombers is the scrapping of the reserves side, which has failed to be a success since its introduction in 2005, which was a requirement of the Bombers’ licence.
In their five years, the reserves won just 14 of 87 games.
“The reserves were a financial drain on the Bendigo Bombers and undoubtedly put the integrity of the VFL reserves competition in question,’’ Jackson said.
“I think the Bendigo Bombers are financially viable, but not with a reserves side.
“There’s no point pursuing a reserves side if it’s going to be that big of a strain financially and there isn’t enough players of the calibre to win any games, so it just makes no point.
“And the reserves were also an irritation to the local clubs, so why do it?’’
The future of Bendigo’s reserves was put under heavy review last year, before the Bombers persisted with the fledgling team for 2009 at a cost of about $100,000.
“That wasn’t an Essendon Football Club decision last year, it was the Bendigo Bombers, and they hold the licence with AFL Victoria,’’ Jackson said.
“AFL Victoria said you need to have a reserves team, so Bendigo did, of which we weren’t party to the decision.
“But going forward this time we said we’re not going to get together in a model that involves reserves if it’s going to be such a financial strain on the Bendigo Bombers for no benefit to anybody.
“Who is going to put their hand in their pocket? There’s only one organisation that would, and we wouldn’t do that.
“Going forward we were never going to play reserves, and I think that’s the right thing for the local competition.
“There’s an important point to make here in that the Bendigo Bombers are not really a football club in an historical sense, and I’m not sure whether it can be, like a Williamstown, Port Melbourne or Werribee.
“It was always created as the Bendigo Diggers (in 1998) as part of the VFL competition.
“It never had a historical level of supporters, volunteers, players, past players, honour boards and all those sorts of things, so you’re always going to be challenged at the best of times financially because you haven’t got the basic ingredients that make up a viable regional football club.
“So when you impose a reserves on top of it, it just makes it impossible.
“And it’s not really any more about building the Bendigo Bombers as a football club in its own right, it’s about whether football pathways in Bendigo will be improved as such that Bendigo football becomes strong, and we think that’s the significance of having a VFL team.
“We believe that with closer relationships between the Bendigo Pioneers, Bendigo Bombers and Essendon - and I’ve always felt this since day one in 2003 - that you will get more young kids from the under-18 competition who will come to play, then they will stay to try out with the Bendigo Bombers, and if they don’t, then they can filter back to the Bendigo Football League.
“And then over a number of years, the Bendigo Football League, and the whole of Bendigo football, ought to get stronger, because you’ve got a better chance of retaining more people, and that’s what we say when we talk about sustainable pathways.’’
In maintaining its alignment with Bendigo beyond this year, it’s going to cost Essendon significantly more over the next two seasons.
“We will increase our contribution to the Bendigo Bombers to allow them to recruit better players, so we’re going to put our hand in our pocket for that,’’ Jackson said.
“The other thing is, in its wisdom, the AFL Victoria board has decided we are a stand-alone operation, so the licence fee for Essendon is increasing from $45,000 to $130,000 a year, which is what Collingwood and Geelong play.
“AFL Victoria believes that because there are no Bendigo reserves, fundamentally, Bendigo is Essendon’s seconds side and where we choose to play is up to us.
“We argued strongly against that, and what I find incredibly ironic and disappointing is AFL Victoria agrees that having Essendon involved in the development of football in greater Bendigo is very good.
“But how you can then say it’s the same as Collingwood playing VFL football at Gosch’s Paddock, and next year at Victoria Park, astounds me.
“For next year, the difference between $45,000 and $130,000, which is $85,000, we’re going to be paying into the Bendigo Bombers itself, over and above any other commitment, which is an instruction from AFL Victoria to make sure Bendigo stays financially viable.
“The second year, that $130,000 is paid all to AFL Victoria, so this alignment over two years is going to cost Essendon an extra $170,000, so we haven’t gone into this lightly, but we still think it’s worth doing.’’
While Bendigo has struggled on-field in the seniors for the past two seasons - winning just five of 38 games under Adrian Hickmott since Matthew Knights took the Bombers to the 2007 finals - Jackson says the club’s hopes of fielding a competitive side have been hurt by the injury toll at Essendon.
“Where we sit right now, Bendigo had an extremely disappointing year, which is stating the bleeding obvious,’’ Jackson said.
“Our injury list at Essendon hasn’t helped; we haven’t got through a season without too many injuries since about 2002.
“I don’t know who broke the mirror, but we have just had some awful luck with injuries, and so the Bendigo Bombers have been a non-competitive team on and off those years simply because of our injury list.’’
Jackson believes it’s imperative Bendigo’s recruiting ahead of the 2010 season focuses on securing high-quality VFL-standard players who are capable of holding the side together should Essendon endure another poor season with injury.
The last time the Bombers had a deep group of high-quality Bendigo-listed players was in 2005 when it had the calibre of Nick Carter, Simon Rosa, Jordan Doering, Callan Beasy, Justin Blumfield, Aaron Connaughton, Kain Robins and Kris Pendlebury.
That remains the most successful of the Bombers’ seven seasons when, in Knights’ first year as coach, they made it to the preliminary final, where they were beaten by eventual premier Sandringham by 39 points.
“We believe we need to get more players of VFL capability on the Bendigo list, who are capable of holding the list together if there are injuries at Essendon,’’ Jackson said.
“If that means there are four or five of those guys training in Melbourne, and four or five training in Bendigo, so you’ve got those eight to 10 players besides the Essendon-list, that’s what we need to establish.
“So that’s a major objective going forward, to recruit those guys.’’
One of the positives of season 2009 for the Bombers was the off-field stability, headed by chairman David Joss and general manager Peter Lodewijks.
The Bombers have had a frequent turnover of key off-field personnel in recent years, but the club has avoided such issues this year with Joss and Lodewijks at the helm.
“We reckon we’ve got some good administrators in Peter Lodewijks and David Joss at Bendigo, and I don’t think they’ve had a real chance yet to make a difference,’’ Jackson said.
“As soon as they got their opportunity, the reserves were there, the injury list at Essendon was there, so they haven’t had a chance, but I think they are both very capable guys, and Essendon is more than prepared to partake in an alignment while they’re there.
“I can see there is a great opportunity with Essendon and Bendigo football, but as I’ve said, some things are going to need to happen, and I think this is the last chance everyone has got.’’
Jackson, who joined Essendon in 1996, ends his tenure as managing director today.
