2018 Essendon Football Club season

The 2018 Essendon Football Club season was the Essendon Football Club's 120th season in the Australian Football League. They also fielded a reserves team in the Victorian Football League.

AFL

Essendon Football Club

2018 season
President	Lindsay Tanner
Coach	John Worsfold
Captain(s)	Dyson Heppell
Home ground	Etihad Stadium (Capacity: 56,347)
←  2017 2019 →

Main article: 2018 AFL season

List changes

Main article: 2017 AFL draft

Three veteran Essendon players decided to retire at the end of the 2017 season: two-time All-Australian Jobe Watson, ^[1] former Geelong three-time premiership player James Kelly ^[2] and 255-game player Brent Stanton. ^[3] After the season Essendon also announced that they had delisted Heath Hocking. ^[4]

During trade period three different players requested trades to Essendon. The first trade to be completed was that of Greater Western Sydney player Devon Smith, who Essendon acquired with their first round pick for the 2017 draft. ^[5] Later they also secured Adam Saad from Gold Coast with their 2018 second round pick, ^[6] before getting forward Jake Stringer from the Western Bulldogs in exchange for two second-round draft picks on the last day of the trade period. ^[7]

Retirements and delistings

Player	Date	Reason	Games	Goals	Ref.
Yestin Eades	15 February 2017	Delisted	0	0	[8]
Jobe Watson	9 August 2017	Retired, effective at end of season	220	113	[1]
James Kelly	16 August 2017	Retired, effective at end of season	313	90	[2]
Brent Stanton	24 August 2017	Retired, effective at end of season	255	158	[3]
Heath Hocking	15 September 2017	Delisted	126	45	[4]

Trades

Date	Gained	From	Lost	Ref.
12 October 2017	Devon Smith Pick 24 2018 second round pick (Greater Western Sydney)	Greater Western Sydney	Pick 11 2018 third round pick (Essendon)	[5]
16 October 2017	Adam Saad	Gold Coast	2018 second round pick (Essendon)	[6]
19 October 2017	Jake Stringer	Western Bulldogs	Pick 25 Pick 30	[7]

Squad

Essendon Football Club

Senior list						Rookie list		Coaching staff
1 Andrew McGrath  2 Tom Bellchambers  3 Darcy Parish  4 Kyle Langford  5 Devon Smith  6 Joe Daniher  7 Zach Merrett (vc)  8 Martin Gleeson  9 Brendon Goddard 10 Aaron Francis 11 David Zaharakis 12 Mark Baguley 13 Orazio Fantasia 14 Jordan Ridley 15 Josh Green 16 Josh Begley 17 James Stewart 18 Michael Hurley 19 Kobe Mutch 20 Jackson Merrett		21 Dyson Heppell (c) 22 Matthew Leuenberger 23 David Myers 24 Jordan Houlahan 25 Jake Stringer 26 Cale Hooker (vc) 27 Mason Redman 28 Mitch Brown 29 Patrick Ambrose 30 Brandon Zerk-Thatcher 32 Travis Colyer 33 Jayden Laverde 34 Jake Long 35 Matt Guelfi 36 Michael Hartley 37 Dylan Clarke 42 Adam Saad 43 Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti 45 Conor McKenna 49 Matt Dea				38 Sam Draper 39 Trent Mynott 40 Luke Lavender (B) 41 Ben McNiece (B) 44 Shaun McKernan		Head coach John Worsfold Assistant coaches Mark Neeld (general performance manager) Hayden Skipworth (midfield) Mark Harvey (defence) James Kelly (development coach) Mark Corrigan (performance coach) Dan Jordan (VFL coach) Paul Corrigan (forwards) Rob Harding (opposition strategy and game intelligence) Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) (B) Category B rookie Updated: 28 November 2017 Source(s): Playing list, Coaching staff

Ladder

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Richmond	22	18	4	0	2143	1574	136.1	72	2018 finals
2	West Coast (P)	22	16	6	0	2012	1657	121.4	64
3	Collingwood	22	15	7	0	2046	1699	120.4	60
4	Hawthorn	22	15	7	0	1972	1642	120.1	60
5	Melbourne	22	14	8	0	2299	1749	131.4	56
6	Sydney	22	14	8	0	1822	1664	109.5	56
7	Greater Western Sydney	22	13	8	1	1898	1661	114.3	54
8	Geelong	22	13	9	0	2045	1554	131.6	52
9	North Melbourne	22	12	10	0	1950	1790	108.9	48
10	Port Adelaide	22	12	10	0	1780	1654	107.6	48
11	Essendon	22	12	10	0	1932	1838	105.1	48
12	Adelaide	22	12	10	0	1941	1865	104.1	48
13	Western Bulldogs	22	8	14	0	1575	2037	77.3	32
14	Fremantle	22	8	14	0	1556	2041	76.2	32
15	Brisbane Lions	22	5	17	0	1825	2049	89.1	20
16	St Kilda	22	4	17	1	1606	2125	75.6	18
17	Gold Coast	22	4	18	0	1308	2182	59.9	16
18	Carlton	22	2	20	0	1353	2282	59.3	8

Source: AFL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

References

1. "Jobe Watson: Former Essendon skipper to retire at season's end". ABC Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
2. Twomey, Callum (16 August 2017). "'Pops' calls stop: Kelly retires for second time". AFL.com.au. Telstra. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
3. Schmook, Nathan (24 August 2017). "Veteran Bomber set to join the farewell crowd". AFL.com.au. Telstra . Retrieved 24 August 2017.
4. "Essendon Veteran Delisted". Triple M . 15 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
5. Niall, Jake (12 October 2017). "Bomber bound: Essendon and GWS have agreed to a deal regarding Devon Smith". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
6. Landsberger, Sam (16 October 2017). "Adam Saad joins Essendon for future second-round pick in a boost for Andy McGrath". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
7. "Jake Stringer to Essendon as Bulldogs relent to deal". The Age. Fairfax Media. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
8. Cherny, Daniel (15 February 2017). "Yestin Eades parts ways with Essendon Bombers by mutual agreement". The Age . Fairfax Media. Retrieved 15 February 2017.