Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson was thrilled with the clubs decision to honour Hardwick for his great service to the club. “The club has awarded Damien life membership as recognition of his outstanding contribution to the club. Damien will always be considered very much apart of the Essendon Football Club. Unfortunately salary cap pressures forced the club to trade Damien. He went to Port Adelaide with our best wishes,” Jackson said.
Four other players will also be awarded life membership at the Annual General Meeting - Steven Alessio, James Hird, Mark Mercuri and Joe Misiti. All four have been playing with the Essendon Football Club for ten years. The Annual General Meeting is being held at the Clocktower in Moonee Ponds, starting at 7pm.
Damien Hardwick’s career highlights -
DOB 18/08/72
Height 180cms
Weight 78kgs
NO 11
Damien Hardwick was recruited from Upwey-Tecoma/Nth Melbourne/Springvale
Damien had a very good debut year at Essendon in 1994. He came into the team to play on the wing, and his confidence and running ability made him ideal for the job. Numerous times he would grab the ball and spin out of trouble, running and then booting the ball into the forward line. In 1993 he won the reserves Best and Fairest, indicating he had a good year in '93 also. In 1995, with the emergence of so many wingmen (Long, Cockatoo-Collins, Hills, Olarenshaw) he had difficulty getting a regular spot in the team. He kicked off 1996 well, showing good form in the Lightning Premiership. Some nagging injuries kept him from his regular senior spot in the middle part of the season, but he returned later in the year to his regular form. In 1997 Damien came 9th in the Crichton medal after solid performances
In 1998 he won the EFC Best & Fairest award, the Crichton Medal and also won the Most Improved Player award. He continued his good work into 1999 and was one of EFC 's most valuable players. He is always hard at the ball, giving Essendon's backline that hard edge and setting the tone for his fellow defenders. He came 6th in the 1999 Crichton medal with 207 votes.
His single minded approach in 2000 was rewarded with a spot in the winning 2000 Grand Final team in addition to coming 9th in the Crichton medal for the year. Damien was a member of the 2001 Grand Final team. At the end of the 2001 season he was traded to Port Adelaide for 2001 November draft selections.
