Premier Cricket: Essendon secures club championship for first time since 1968
Emotions were high at Windy Hill on Saturday as past greats joined current players and administrators to reflect on the Bombers’ first club championship since 1968.
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Emotions were high at Windy Hill on Saturday as past greats joined current players and administrators to reflect on the Bombers’ first club championship since 1968.
While attentions had turned to premiership tilts for Essendon’s firsts, seconds and fourths by Sunday morning, the club took the opportunity to revel in the achievement of being crowned Premier Cricket’s best club for the first time in 51 years.
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The title was secured when the Bombers’ First XI claimed their 11th win of the campaign over Monash Tigers, clinching second spot and a home final against Geelong.
“It’s something we are really going to celebrate,” president Simon Tobin said.
“There’s a lot of prestige, and rightly so, in the club championship.
“We have only won two previously over 147 years. The last one was over 50 years ago.
“The 60s were a bit of a golden era for the club and there’s a lot of guys that played in premierships and club championships from the era that are still around the club.
“There’s a really good understanding and sense of history and honour associated with winning the club championship.”
Essendon (571 points) was more than 20 points clear of Carlton (547) and St Kilda (528) before its Fourth XI fixture against Monash Tigers on Sunday.
“It’s a really good feather in our cap and helps us go one step closer to getting that added respect of the competition,” coach Mitch Johnstone said.
“If we want to consider ourselves a destination club, these are the sort of things you pick up along the way.
“It’s hard to dwell on it for too long because in five or six days time we are gearing up for a Saturday-Sunday final.
“But we’ll certainly reflect and enjoy it, then put our minds to the task of winning our first finals.”
Essendon secured a 148-run victory over Monash Tigers to ensure it held an unassailable lead over the Blues and Saints on the club championship table.
Tobin paid tribute to the influence of former coach Brendan Joyce and current skipper Clint McKay in turning around the club’s fortunes in the past decade.
“Brendan really set about re-establishing the club as a serious club,” Tobin said.
“Brendan has a lot of success as a player and a captain previously at Fitzroy and he brought a heck of a lot of knowledge to the club that we really needed.
“Although we fell one short five years ago in the grand final, truth be known we probably overachieved that year.
“We probably weren’t quite ready to get as far as we did that year and win a flag. But that momentum has continued.
“Since Brendan left two years ago, Mitch has brought a whole lot of very different skills to the club.
“It’s added to the base that Mitch inherited when he arrived … and probably one of the most significant factors this year is we have been able to have the incredibly important benefit of Clint McKay’s leadership.”
Liam Bowe (3-69), Louis Cameron (2-38), Matt Doric (2-42) and McKay (2-48) were multiple wicket-takers as Monash was dismissed for 236 chasing the Bombers’ 384.
Essendon hosts Geelong in a qualifying final this weekend, aiming to cap a historic season with its first premiership since 1970.
“Geelong is a real danger team and they have beaten us the last two games,” Johnstone said.
“They will be confident coming to Windy Hill of giving us a good run for our money. It’s going to be a red-hot contest.”
The Cats prevailed by 109 runs when the teams clashed in Round 6, piling on 395 at Kardinia Park and restricting Essendon to 286 in reply.