Ladies and gentlemen. This is a very frustrating time for many of us in the Essendon Football Club - players and coaches and staff.

Firstly, because we lost on Saturday. We all have to deal with that and wonder what could have been. Still, I want to remind all at the club that we set North Melbourne Football Club as the benchmark last year given they played in seven consecutive Preliminary Finals up to year 2000. They won two Grand Finals in that time. I’m sure with the list we have that we can aspire to a similar number of Preliminary Finals and probably more Grand Finals. If by 2005 we have matched the Kangaroos in Preliminary Finals but picked up one or two extra Grand Finals, all people associated with Essendon Football Club will be satisfied.

The second cause of frustration is this week, known as trade week, when we are finally faced with the reality of not being able to retain our complete list of players. I have been on public record for two years saying it would be difficult to keep this list together over time. We have done a great job to keep them together this long and the senior players have helped us do that. But this week reality catches up with us and we need to face this as a club.

The frustration arises because this list has been developed from young players, not from poaching or opportunistic trading. It has come from very good recruiting and very good development. The players have accepted and are paid less than market rates. In 2001, we did not have a player paid in the top 10 of the competition despite the record of this club and those individual players over the last three years. Our problem now arises because we have been successful at what we do. We have a strong deep list. We are being penalised by the AFL policy on salary cap, not for overspending on players as so many clubs have done, but for being successful.

The frustration is all the more extreme when we compare our position with that of the Brisbane Lions - a very good team that deserved its win on Saturday. That team had six players acquired through AFL concessions granted them as a developing club. They were concessions not afforded to Essendon Football Club. Now they have established a very good list, the AFL also give them a development grant equal to 10% of the salary cap or $550,000 in 2002 to help them retain their players. EFC gets no such advantage or assistance, and in fact the systems established penalise our club for succeeding. We don’t deny the need for the AFL to develop the northern markets to be successful football states. We merely point out the differences and the impact of AFL policies on a successful Victorian club.

As result we enter this trade week knowing we have to trade. And, as a result of yesterday, when clubs meet all other clubs individually, and then people in those other clubs purposely leak any discussions to the media, we have a series of hysterical headlines in newspapers today that achieve nothing except create uncertainty to for a number of players at all clubs. There has to be better way.

Aside from this week’s frustration, it has been a very good year for the club, on and off the field. The players and coaches worked extremely hard to achieve their goal and deserve congratulations for their efforts. They have added to the very proud record of this club.

Off field, the staff has also done the club proud. I believe the club continues to reach new heights in professionalism as we strive to be the best club in all respects on and off the field. The marketing achievements this year are again outstanding in terms of membership and merchandise programs and some of the events we have run this year are the equal of any in Melbourne.

It is easy to be a successful CEO when you clearly have the best players, the best coaches, and the best staff collectively in the AFL. Not only the best at what they do but they also possess an enormous amount of character and huge work ethic. These people are the ones making your club great.

Our primary objective apart from winning premierships, is to be the most recognised, respected and supported sporting club in Australia. In year 2001, we went a little bit further towards achieving that objective through the efforts of the players, the coaches and the staff and I want to thank them all for that.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all our sponsors for their great support throughout the year. In particular, our major sponsor Orange. This was our first year with Orange. I know they are as pleased with the sponsorship as we are and we look forward to our ongoing relationship for at least the next 2 years.

To our platinum sponsors being Fila, Musashi, Voicenet, most recently i7 Ltd, Preston Motors, CUB, Coca Cola, Ray Brown, and Ansett (we hope you get back and stay in the air). Thank you for another great year.

Thank you also to our gold and silver sponsors and all our player sponsors. Your support is invaluable and you know we greatly appreciate it. To all our members and supporters here tonight - you are not arrogant. You are proud, you are passionate and you are a very importnant part of this club.