Essendon board election candidate Luke Maxfield opens up on fight for director position

The field includes five premiership players, the current president and a long-time director. But this Bombers fan believes it’s time to bring the members’ voice to the Essendon board.

Staring down a field that includes the incumbent president, two premiership players and a long-time board member, Luke Maxfield admits he is a “long shot” in Essendon’s board election.

But the third-generation Dons fan, who travels by train to games in Melbourne from Drouin, is hopeful of bringing the voice of members to the Bomber board.

Maxfield, 35, is the fifth name in a stacked field fighting for two spots on the board, against president Dave Barham, 2000 flag winner Dean Solomon, dual-premiership player Paul Weston and Melissa Verner Green, who has been on the board since 2017.

Voting began on Tuesday and closes on December 17, with the winners to be announced at the club’s annual general meeting on December 18.

Essendon board candidate Luke Maxfield.

A Bombers fan who used to marvel at the deeds of James Hird while watching games from his couch next to his grandmother, Maxfield’s left-field candidacy has had Barham admitting he didn’t know his Maxfield.

“When I am up against two existing board members and two premiership players, it is a long shot and I am accepting of that,” Maxfield told the Herald Sun.

“But I really do believe there is value in me running. The board is dominated by corporate executives and former players and I don’t think the members voices are at the centre of decisions at the board table and I would like to be that voice.

“It is a long shot but you have to be in it to win it.”

Current president Dave Barham. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Like his name recognition, Maxfield’s footballing CV doesn’t match those he is up against.

Maxfield said he had “a background across not-for-profit, private sector and government” and currently works in business development for a water utility.

If he were to come from nowhere to win a spot on the board, it could push Barham out, but Maxfield said he didn’t want to be “destructive”.

“The reality is after this election, 10 of the 12 board positions are going to be the same so we are going to start 2025 with the majority of the same board,” he said.

Maxfield is running on a platform of improving governance after the Andrew Thorburn hiring and firing as CEO over a 24 hour period in October, 2022, stopping any payments to board members, recognising members with items like scarfs for a milestone of years being signed up and pushing for more funding to develop Windy Hill.

Dean Solomon during a stint as GWS assistant coach. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Essendon’s annual report listed $149,175 in payments to a “director related entity for marketing, ambassador and community engagement services”.

Outgoing board member Kevin Sheedy was a paid ambassador during his time on the board.

“We want everyone to be focused on the 17th flag and not feathering their own nests and we certainly don’t want to repeat the governance failures of the past,” Maxfield said.

“I don’t want to throw rocks from the side, I want to be on the inside and contributing and helping with governance and keeping everyone focused on that target.”

Weston has said the Dons need to regain their identity on the field and his “agenda is our culture, leadership and development”.

Solomon wants to add another football voice to the board, with Sheedy and Dean Rioli off.

Ex-player Andrew Welsh is vice-president and the frontrunner for the top gig if Barham doesn’t make it through the election.

Solomon, who was a long-time assistant coach at Gold Coast, has pushed a message of better communication to members about where the AFL team sits in its premiership cycle and aligning the entire football department together.

Maxfield supports an amendment to the Essendon constitution from member group NoPE (No Pokies at Essendon) to publish in future annual reports that pokies owned by the club are “causing social harm”.

Members will vote on the amendment but Barham and the Bombers board has pushed back on that motion and the president told the Don the Stat podcast that “putting something into the constitution is a little bit dangerous, it can open you up to all sorts of legal things.”

Paul Weston. Picture: Ian Currie

Maxfield supports the Bombers exiting pokies once the club finds a way to replace that revenue.

“If a club like North Melbourne can do it with smaller number of members, then we certainly can to,” he said.

While Weston said he was running because the Bombers had lost an edge on-field, Maxfield said he thought the Dons could win a flag in the next three seasons.

“We need to worry about the future and restore our legacy as the greatest club ever,” he said.

“When we get that 17th flag – before Carlton and Collingwood do – we will reinforce to Australia that we are the best club in this town.”