Essendon Football Club PI/MW Page

- Jake Kelly
- 2022 Country Festival, March Worn
- Size L
- Under Armour

Been about 2 years since I’ve posted on this page, I’ve had plenty of guernseys come and go (plenty more coming than going), and have been predominately posting them all on Instagram. Instagram has absolutely taken a front seat as far as posting my guernseys has been concerned, so I’ll try to even the ledger a bit and post some gear on here.

If you’d like to come for the ride on Instagram where I post much more frequently - is where you’ll find me!!

Anyways, with all that aside, let me share a ripper I secured a few months back! This guernsey was issued to and worn by Jake Kelly in his first ever game for the club. It was a dark day for the Bombers, getting belted by the Cats to start off what would be a grim season, but the shining light in this game for sure was the discovery of Nic Martin - who had the ball on a string on debut, kicking 5 goals himself. Kelly finished with 13 touches to round off his club debut.

Kelly cops a lot of stick for his disposal use at times, but so far this season, it’s been impossible to fault his effort and want for the footy, he’s certainly been one that’s stood up and quickly become one of my favourites!

- Nick Bryan
- 2021 Dreamtime in Perth, Player Issue
- Size L

How good is this!? While the great man is a couple of brewskis deep while out celebrating his 21st birthday, I’m here admiring his Dreamtime guernsey from his 2nd season. (Happy Birthday big dog)

If you didn’t gather already - this guernsey was issued to Nick Bryan for the 2021 Dreamtime in Perth. It’s one of Essendon’s best and most obscure designs, riddled with colour and patterns, I’m a massive, massive fan. Bryan didn’t make the trip over to Perth, making this just a spare.

Bryan made his debut 2 seasons ago against the Blues, and looks to be a shoe-in to take the 2nd ruck spot once Phillips departs. He’s played just 6 games in his 3 year career, but is coming along nicely, as Phillips starts to age a tad, I look forward to Bryan featuring more and more!

- Dyson Heppell
- 2014 Home, Player Issue
- Size M

Scored myself an absolute pearler this week and couldn’t wait to share it with you all. I’ve been chasing a 2014 Home guernsey for a while now, so was all over this when it popped up in my DM’s. This guernsey was issued to Dyson Heppell for the 2014 season, was sold to me as match worn, but you all know the drill by now, there’s no clear cut evidence, so I’ll claim it as unworn.

2014 was a breakout season for Hep, really making a stamp as a defensive midfielder, stat wise he had ‘career bests’ coming out of backside, meaning he was able to lock in some massive milestones, he claimed his first and only All-Australian call up, he was Captain of the AFL 22under22 team, and rounded it off by winning the Clubs Best & Fairest award - the Crichton Medal.

He cops a lot of flack, it’s easy to argue both ways, but one things for certain, this bloke helped us out of a massive whole, and is undoubtably one of most influential figures of the modern era, hopefully he gets a taste of that success he so truly deserves. 🏆

- Michael Hurley
- 2015 Home, Match Worn
- Size XL

We miss you and we love you

- Paddy Ryder
- 2013 140th Year Anniversary, Match Worn
- Size 2XL

So excited to show off this bad boy. This jumper is so special to me, 2013 was the year my love for footy took a massive step, Paddy Ryder was my first favourite player, and I remember this game so vividly in my mind it’s ridiculous. To receive this jumper off Pat personally just made it all the more special!

Anyways, this guernsey was issued to and worn by the man mentioned above in Essendon’s Round 11 Match against Carlton, signifying 140 years since we played our first game against the filth in 1873. We got up by 5-points thanks to a late Jake Melksham set shot.

As mentioned 2013 was a special year sentimentally, so to have this jumper sit in the wardrobe is just awesome!

- Tom Hawkins
- 2020 Clash, Player Issue
- Size XL

Taking a small hiatus from the Dons content (I know, I’m sorry), but for a very good reason. Have a bloody look at this thing, arguably the comps best forward at the minute, and still going strong. The Tomahawk has kicked 665 goals from his monster 302 game career, it’s fair to say the man needs no introduction. He’s an All-Australian, Coleman Medalist, Premiership Player, and probably nearly as good as Peter Wright, huge call I know, but he’s pretty close.

I saw this one pop up and I simply had to sn**ch it, you may notice a small difference in this top, that being that the colours are inverted, I genuinely don’t believe they’ve donned a clash jumper since around 2015/2016, so this ones definitely unworn. It’s a cool design, it’s issued to a massive player, so I was delighted to include it in the collection.

- Jason Winderlich
- 2013 Flight Plan, Match Worn
- Size M

My last pickup for 2021 is a doozy! This gorgeous jumper was issued to and worn by Jason Winderlich, on the 18th of May 2013, Essendon decided to Don one of their more obscure designs. It was worn in Round 8 in a tough loss against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium, and it features the names of a select amount of people who donated to help build the facility we all know and love - The Hangar.

My earliest memories of Winderlich were my dad saying ‘what the bloody hell is the point of playing this bloke if he’s always injured?’ Of course at the time I wasn’t too sure what or why he was saying these things, but as I got older, I completely understood. Unfortunately for ‘Licka,’ it was a case of playing 10-15 games in a season, then getting injured the next, and playing 2 or 3. At his blistering best, the medium sized forward was absolutely awesome to watch, and I honestly loved him, those of you would be glad to know that my dad loved him too - just a bit of white line fever I suppose.

All in all, this jumper is stunning to the naked eye, the photos don’t do it justice, and although Winderlich didn’t get the leverage on his career he would’ve like, I think he did pretty well considering…

- Jobe Watson
- 2014 Warm Up Top, Player Issue
- Size L

This beautiful warm up top was issued to Jobe Watson for the 2014 Season. There are a few factors that lead me to believe it may have been worn, but with no COA, it’s too hard to tell! It also doesn’t help the fact that this jumper is one of a possible 3 designs we could’ve worn throughout the 2014 season. We wore a blue variant, a black variant (which I believe is the stock standard that we used.) and the red variant which is pictured below.

I was so wrapped to pick up this piece, and I picked it up for an absolute bargain too. Watson had an incredible 2014 season, averaging 30 disposals a game up until Round 12 - where he unfortunately broke his collarbone. 9 weeks later, in Round 21 he would come back in an inspired performance against the Eagles, racking up 30 disposals, and kicking a snag as well.

Regardless to the fact whether he wore this jumper or not, to have another guernsey issued to one of the best players to pull on the red sash is absolutely awesome.

- Ricky Dyson
- 2010 ANZAC, Match Worn
- Size L

This guernsey was issued to Ricky Dyson for the 2010 ANZAC Day Clash against the Pies, and boy was it ugly.. The Dons were downed by the eventual Premiers by 65-points. Dyson had an okay game, but definitely didn’t set the world on fire - collecting 16 disposals and 5 tackles.

This guernsey was sold to me as ‘Match Worn’, so I’ll treat it as such, but the jumper didn’t come with a COA, so I unfortunately can’t 100% lock it in. It does have minor stretches and pillage, but for a jumper that’s 11 years old, that’s to be expected. Ricky Dyson was drafted in 2003 and played 114 games for the Bombers, however I believe he didn’t reach his full potential, as his career was riddled by injury, and Matthew Knights definitely didn’t help his confidence, often playing him in the reserves.

- Brendon Goddard
- 2017 Away, Player Issue L/S
- L/LONG

This guernsey was issued to Brendon Goddard for away games during the 2017 season. I absolutely loved Goddard, he was one of my favourite players for a long, long time, I feel as though he definitely had a few seasons of footy left in him, but regardless - the bloke was a champion of the club.

This guernsey has been worn on multiple occasions, I cannot find any photos of Goddard wearing sleeves, so I’ve come to the conclusion that it was worn by a VFL player during the 2017 season. You see, Essendon’s VFL side are never supplied with VFL badged longsleeve guernseys, so they usually resort to wearing the AFL boys ones under their VFL playing tops.

In conclusion, I’m wrapped to have this jumper, whether it was worn by Goddard or just issued, it’s an awesome piece and I’m glad to own it!

Been a while between drinks!! Always on the hunt for ‘Call to Arms’/‘Clash for Cancer’/‘Challenge’ guernseys, still on the hunt for ‘07, ‘08, 09, ‘10, ‘12 and 2013!

Here’s the current ‘Cancer Collection.’

- Sam Draper
- 2019 Away, Player Issue
- Size 2XL/L

This guernsey was issued to big Sam Draper for the 2019 season. It’s been a long build up for Sam, who came to the club at the start of 2017, he’s worked hard for 4 years to solidify a spot in the starting 22, and he’s certainly made that wait worth it, picking up straight where Tommy Bell left off, some would even argue he’s added more than T-Bell!

He made his debut in the 2020 season, and only managed to play a few games before being stuck down with injury, he was injured again early this season, but has since come back and hopefully he can play sone great footy! One things for sure, his jumpers will be sought after in the near future, so I’m absolutely wrapped to have a 3rd jumper issued to the big man.