The board led by new chairman Warren Driscoll, identified changes that were required after the first year of the alignment and have commenced restructuring the club from the board down.
On the administration side, recently retired Essendon premiership player Paul Barnard (Barney) was appointed General Manager of the club and he has been working very hard to make the Bendigo team strong both on and off the field.
The Football Department has also made changes with Essendon’s Blair Hartley being appointed on a part time basis to look after football administration. The club is also pleased that another recently retired Essendon premiership player Steven Alessio (Ses) has joined as Assistant Coach. Both of these appointments have already had an impact helping Coach Peter Banfield and Assistant Coach Greg Cox to form a strong playing list.
2004 signings of Gary Moorcroft (Essendon, Melbourne), Jordan Doering (Essendon, Carlton, Tassie Devils), Luke Hawkins (Essendon VFL team, Old Scotch) and Ryan Webster (East Perth) strengthen playing depth. Also some of the young Bendigo Pioneer players such as Brad Comer, Sam Hill, Bradey Childs, Kain Robbins, Darren Atkinson and Mark Vigas are extremely enthusiastic and training very hard.
Mr Driscoll believes that with all of the hard work that has been done since the end of last season 2004 should see the club being one of the top teams in the VFL competition.
