Mark Duffield - The Editorial (03.06.2026)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
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**Mark Duffield** (0:16)
Hello everybody, welcome to the SENWA radio studio. We're out here at Optus Stadium. It is a Wednesday morning in Perth, a chilly one too, 11 degrees outside at the moment, building to a top of 18 degrees later in the day. Made in WA for WA, this is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA. News yesterday that Essendon have formally asked for a draft assistance package from the AFL, and they'll be carrying out talks with the league in the coming weeks to work out what form that assistance may or may not take. Now, as far as I'm concerned, they should absolutely get assistance. So AFL clubs and their supporters are the greatest bunch of imbys you can imagine. Yes, that's imbys, not nimbys.
When it comes to anything that might help them, they are the absolute opposite to those who oppose developments or infrastructures near their homes.
It's yes, definitely in my backyard, but when it comes to allowing them in someone else's backyard, all hell breaks loose. So the bombers are broken. Maybe they wouldn't look quite as broken without the injuries, but they are broken nonetheless. They've just sacked their coach. Let's remove the whole question of whether to herd or not to herd from this debate. Essendon's list is poor. They're about to confront the draft concessions given to Tasmania. They need help, or we are looking at a club anchored to the bottom for several seasons. Is it self-inflicted? It's mainly self-inflicted. There have been injuries, and plenty of them. Two of their three top 10 picks from the 2020 National Draft, Nick Cox and Zach Reid have experienced significant injury issues. Their best defender, Jordan Ridley, has played 106 games in 8.5 seasons in this competition, and he's not managed more than 10 in either of the last two completed. He's played just two of his 12 this year. He may play this week, but he's going to get... Well, he's going to struggle to get to 10 games again. The already wrecked Essendon team that had just sacked Brad Scott came to Perth without Ridley, and also Peter Wright, captain Andrew McGraw, midfielder Sam Durham, defender Mason Redmond, and utility Matt Guelphie. They lost forward Archer May early in the match.
Now, if we go back to West Coast list collapse, it included a long injury list and misses in recruiting.
Like the Bombers, a mix of misfortune and self-inflicted misadventure. People cried foul when the previously successful Eagles were granted draft concessions. I'm sure there will be similar opposition to Essendon. The AFL should ignore the outcry and get on with helping the Bombers become competitive again.
So much of the AFL is about brand protection. Helping Essendon or any other struggling club bounce a little more quickly is good for the brand, so how about we just get on with it? And let's not be hypocrites about this. Let's not wince and moan about a struggling club getting a leg up, because so many clubs receive leg ups of some shape or form. Collingwood, their 2023 flag team had three father sons, all guns. Two Dacosses, one more. The same people who winched about West Coast draft concessions just a few years after their 2018 flag had no issues with Collingwood getting their best player, Nick Dacoss, under the father son rule, even less years after the Pies had played in that famous 2018 grand final. So Brisbane, please, let's not even get started. Three gun father sons in 2025, one won his second Norm Smith medal. That was Will Ashcroft. He's got plenty of more years to go. And then there are their Academy picks. The Lions moved smoothly from flag celebrations to the draft, where they took top five pick, Dan Annable.
The Gold Coast finalists last year with several Academy picks on board and more arriving at an alarming rate, including two top end draft picks in the draft last year after they beat Freemantle in the final here.
The AFL is the most unequal, equalised competition imaginable. So when a team hits the bottom and threatens to stay there, let's do something about it. They constantly prop up Northern States teams because it's good for the code. It's good for footy and WA for West Coast to show signs they're starting to climb back up the ladder.
It's not good for footy for any club, let alone a big one like the Bombers, to be stuck at the bottom. As long as the AFL is just as happy to move as quickly for other clubs, it's not a problem. It's called consistency. The league should look it up in the dictionary and help the Bombers out. Your thoughts are welcome. 487 736 736, that is the text line. 1312 55 is the Barra and Doday open line. Barra and Doday, because the little things are everything.