As he steps into the role of Essendon President, Andrew Welsh is excited to take the reins as part of the Bombers’ vision to 2026 and beyond.

A familiar face to fans already as a 162-game stalwart in the 2000’s and more recently as Board Member and Chair of the Club’s Football Governance, Welsh is ready to take another step in helping push the Club forward. 

Welsh’s first interview at the helm: 

Welsh on… stepping into the role

It's a real honour for me to be voted in as President of the Essendon Football Club. It’s a place that really gave me an identity when I was younger and drafted to the club, it helped build lifelong friendships, connections, but also is part of who I am and how I go about my day-to-day life. 

My enjoyment getting back with the football club has been extremely enjoyable, although very challenging at times and with a lot of things to work through. Working through those items to get us to where we are now as a really stable club, a really strong club, really energises me and excites me for this next phase we're about to embark on. 

Welsh on… his vision

Dave's done such a fantastic job leading the club over the last three years to really give us this stable platform that we're on, and I don't want people to feel being stable, that you need to be safe.

We need to continue to take risks now that we are stable, on and off-field. What are we looking at corporately, how are we looking at embracing our fans, our supporters and really bringing them along the journey which we've done so well so far, because they are the best in the country. You know, you hear our players talk about it every week and they really are. So that's really important.

And I want to look from our football programs, how we can continue to invest in those areas. We've got the best one and two combination in the high performance area with our men's program now and continue to invest more in our women's program. So we have the ability now to build off this foundation that's been led by David Barham to really push quickly up the ladder on the field, but really up the ladder off the field by looking at new opportunities and taking more risks now that we're stable.

Welsh on… his journey, his passion

It was a big thing for me once I finished playing to move away from football altogether, I really enjoyed my time in the media, with Channel 7 and Triple M through that period. It gave me my football kick that I needed, but wasn't involved day-to-day with a football club.

Through that period, I got to learn many different skills that now has placed me well, firstly as Vice President, and I think will as President from here moving forward. When Dave approached me a few years back to come on the board, I was unsure. 

The first 12 months were tough, but what that reminded me of is I never lost my passion for the Essendon Football Club. I just forgot how good this football club is and how good the people are, how good the fans are, and how much it can enrich your family's life and your friend's life by being part of the Essendon Football Club. 

So I'm really focused on making sure that people are proud to play here, to work here, and to follow this Club.

Welsh on… current assessments of our football department

I feel that the Club is really balanced now in all areas of the football club, on and off the field. There were some tough calls that needed to be made in the football department this year around the high performance area. You can look at the positives. We had 15 debutants, but you don't want to be in that position. A number of rising stars, another positive, but we don't want to be in that position. So we fixed that, we think that area on-field for the men's program is going to be enormously successful.

The players are feeling energised by those appointments now, so I'm really comfortable with what we've got in a position there, and we're continuing to go and talk to really good people, really successful professional people, both on and off the field, around joining our club in different roles.

Welsh on… balancing immediate desire for success with our push for the future 

I think that's the exciting opportunity with where we are now, it’s the foundation and stability that we have, we can start really building on that.

I feel the fan's frustrations and want of success, I’m an Essendon supporter, I go home every day after a game, and the kids are deeply concerned around us not winning a football game. We are doing everything that we possibly can and we'll continue to take risks to make sure we are sitting ahead of the foundations that have been laid to make sure that we are ready to go when our opportunity comes on field, with the list that we're building, but also off field, how we're looking at other areas to continue to challenge each other, to make this Club great again. 

Welsh on… his relationship with the fans

I really enjoy the engagement with the fans. Thankfully, I’ve been involved with the club for 25 years now, as a player, being as purely a supporter and member, life member, and more recently with the board, and now as President. 

They're very honest, they're very proud, they're very passionate. But most of them have also been part of the times when this club had been really successful on field and they felt what this club means to them at those points in time.

Welsh on… his dynamics with key Club people

Yeah, so as Chair of Football Governance, we catch up regularly with Natalie (Wood) and Brad (Scott), Dan McPherson, Craig Vozzo, Dave Barham, Dean Solomon, Aysha Ward's also part of that. So, we had deep conversation around the governance of the football department areas, and areas we need to be monitoring, areas they need more support in, and both of those are fantastic coaches. 

Nat's doing a great job with our W program and Brad in the face of adversity with implementing a football program, but not really having the players this year due to injury to actually implement that, the way he's gone about it has been outstanding. 

He continues to have our full support of the board of myself, Dean Solomon - the other past player on the board - because Brad has done such a fantastic job so far, and we're going to continue to support him to make sure that he's getting that support now we need and that the players are on the field, on the training paddock that gives him the ability to actually deliver on his football outcomes. 

Welsh on… the Zach Merrett situation

Zach's a champion of our club. He's a great guy. He's an Essendon person. We have spoken publicly and continue Zach's a required player, he's contracted to the club. So we won't be entertaining any trade for Zach.

At the core of it, I think Zach is such a fantastic Essendon person that I'm confident he's back in the sheds come pre-season, that he's going to add a significant value through these recent experiences for the group.

Welsh’s message for the fans 

I'm really excited, really energised. I will go back to that we have got a great foundation that's been led by David Barham to get us to this point. 

We are not going backwards from here. We now have the opportunity to accelerate forward, both on and off the field, and the transition process that's been put in place for a number of months now, for Dave to feel within that time is right, which he has felt now is a good opportunity for us as a club to galvanise internally, ask for our members and supporters, past players, corporates to galvanise externally.

Because the Bomber Army when we're together, we're formidable, and we'll get places quicker when we're together and stable. I'm really looking forward to leading that.