Whipping boys, brilliant new AFL coach act and tragic twist behind Bombers’ 15th-to-prelim VFL rise

Few Essendon supporters would have thought, as their AFL team struggled through a torrid 2026, that come the second week of September they’d still be lining up to watch their team play.

But on Saturday morning, football’s most long-suffering supporter base will head en masse to Box Hill City Oval to watch the VFL Bombers face the affiliates of long-time arch rivals Hawthorn in a preliminary final blockbuster.

Up for grabs is the club’s first grand final at any major level since 2001.

The team’s stirring end to the season has been a shining light in a dark time for the Bombers, with a two-win AFL season and mid-year sacking of coach Brad Scott capturing unwanted headlines with depressing regularity.

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And coach Cameron Joyce, in his second year at the helm, has certainly felt the love from Bombers fans desperate for success.

“There’s been a lot of support for the VFL program across the course of the year,” Joyce told foxfooty.com.au.

“With the home (elimination) final that we had at Windy Hill, you could certainly see so many supporters coming out and watching us, and I think enjoying seeing some of the younger players on the AFL list performing really well and getting some really good experiences.

“Everyone that’s involved with a football club wants success. It doesn’t matter what team it is or what program it is – everyone wants to see their team win.”

Joyce’s time at the Bombers began in tragic circumstances at the start of 2025.

Predecessor Dale Tapping had been appointed as the club’s VFL coach in October 2024.

But only four months later, he passed away after a two-year battle with an aggressive blood cancer.

On the field, the job was a brutal one: with the Bombers’ AFL stocks decimated by an extraordinary run of injury, the VFL squad was likewise stretched to its limits, winning just four games – including just one of its last 12 – to finish 19th of 21 teams.

While 2026 was trending in the right direction, the results weren’t: at Round 15, the team sat 15th with a 5-7 record, having heartbreakingly lost to North Melbourne in the final minute.

But it was that defeat, which came despite leading by 15 points at the 21-minute mark of the final quarter and a missed chance to win the game with a kick after the siren from youngster Solomon McKay, that Joyce believes was the catalyst for the team’s remarkable resurrection.

“We were in front with 8-10 minutes to go, and then a D50 stoppage with a minute or two to go, Zac Banch kicked a goal against us,” Joyce recalled.

“It was just a poor set up and poor defence.

“I think off the back of that and the chat after the game with the players, it was a little bit of a turning point in terms of what’s happened from that game to now.

“And clearly there was also a bit of a realisation about what’s required to consistently win games of footy.

“The players have really bought into that.”

That Kangaroos clash in June remains, nearly three months on, the last time the Bombers have tasted VFL defeat.

Despite fielding more than 60 players this season and averaging six changes per week, the team stormed home to not just make the finals, but finish fifth, winning six games on the bounce to end the regular season as the form team of the competition.

Among the scalps included an emphatic 25-point win over preliminary final opponents Box Hill, having restricted the Hawks to just six goals.

Williamstown were swept aside in front of a packed pro-Essendon crowd at Windy Hill, before the most impressive win of all.

In last week’s semi-final, the Dons stormed North Hobart Oval, and in front of more than 8,000 local diehards, ended Tasmania’s first VFL season with a famous 27-point win.

It was the sort of performance, Joyce believes, that could prove a shot in the arm for the whole club, as a rebuild begins under new AFL coach Mark McVeigh.

“Whilst they’re not AFL games and they’re not AFL finals, they’re still VFL finals and finals of significance,” he said.

“The pressure associated with that, and playing away from home in Tasmania last week, I thought all those players acquitted themselves really well.

“These experiences of not only a little bit more high stakes and high pressure, but also being able to show that they can win finals, that’s only going to hold them in really good stead coming into next year.

“We were up against it in terms of the crowd, the atmosphere, the conditions – and to Tassie’s credit, we just couldn’t land a knockout blow for a majority of the game.

“The maturity of being able to work through that, not panic and stay calm and be able to execute, and then finish off at the end to win by almost five goals away from home, that was really pleasing.”

Adding to the sense of excitement around the club is the presence of McVeigh, who in the first month of his tenure as AFL coach is watching the VFL team’s exploits with interest – even sitting in on the team’s preliminary final planning during the week.

With young players keen to make an impression, and several senior heads coming out of contract desperate to remain on the list, the stakes this weekend are higher than just a grand final berth.

“Even though he’s only been there for a very short time, Mark’s been terrific in terms of his support for the team,” Joyce said.

“He’s asked us as coaches where he can support, and is obviously supporting the boys as well ... he was in our review (on Tuesday night).

“The boys clearly also want to impress a new coach. I think there’s a lot of our boys who want to put their best foot forward to perform in these games, and also show Mark that they’re a part of the future with him.”

The names on show in Box Hill on Saturday will be familiar to Bombers fans.

18 of the 23 selected to face the Hawks are on the club’s AFL list, a group that includes several who played regularly at senior level throughout the year – and, encouragingly, others who look set to take the next step.

Two seasons and 16 games into his AFL career, Zak Johnson has been a ball magnet at VFL level, averaging more than 26 disposals a match across the half-back line – including 32 in the semi-final win over Tasmania.

Young winger Angus Clarke, small forwards Hussien El Achkar and Max Kondogiannis, running defender Saad El-Hawli and mid-season recruit Jaxon Artemis are among those keen to bed down a regular AFL spot in 2027.

Out-of-contract midfielder Elijah Tsatas has more cause than anyone to impress McVeigh on Sunday.

While question marks remain over his ball use at AFL level, his average of 33.2 disposals per VFL match is second-most of anyone to have played ten or more games at the level this season.

Nothing would please Joyce more than to see his charges make their mark in the seniors in coming seasons.

“That’s a big part of my role: to make sure that these players have got a really good grounding in the way that we want to play, and when they do go up to the AFL level that they’re equipped,” he told foxfooty.com.au.

“We want them to hold and to stick and make the most of their opportunities and stay up there.

“Johnson, Artemis, Clarke, Kondogiannis have all played a good couple of games for us. (Jayden) Nguyen, (Rhys) Unwin and El Achkar’s pressure has been really important.

“Once we were able to actually make the finals, because we played so many players, the benefit was that we had a lot of AFL-listed players that were available, just purely by the chance that a lot of them have played with us throughout the year.”

Ruckman Vigo Visentini is the most intriguing case of all.

Recruited in the 2023 rookie draft, the project tall had played just two AFL matches when recalled to face Geelong in Round 22.

In a comfortable loss, his 18-disposal, 33-hitout effort was a bright spot, keeping him in the team for the rest of the season – and giving Bombers fans hopes he and Nick Bryan can shoulder the ruck load for the next decade and beyond.

In the short term, Joyce believes matching it with some of the AFL’s best big men, including a strong battle with Sydney star Brodie Grundy that the 21-year old arguably shaded with 19 disposals, nine marks and a goal, has done Visentini’s confidence the world of good.

The proof has been readily apparent: he dominated the Bombers’ elimination final win over the Seagulls with 36 hitouts to give silver service to the likes of Tsatas and captain Xavier O’Neill.

“That (Sydney AFL) game is the best one that he’s played, which certainly gives him confidence for this sort of VFL finals series,” Joyce said.

“Even the pre-season going into next year for him, this gives him confidence that he can compete against some of the better ruckmen in the competition and compete at that level.

“I think it gives him confidence coming back to the VFL knowing that he’s been able to do that.

“He’s going to be really important this week against a pretty good Box Hill team.”

Even more crucial to the team’s VFL success in the back half of the season has been its senior players, many of whom have been AFL staples in years gone by.

A slashing second half of the AFL season might keep Will Setterfield in McVeigh’s calculations for 2027, having averaged 23 disposals a game to become a senior regular again.

But Matt Guelfi and Jade Gresham’s futures are more clouded as their contracts wind up, having played just seven and three senior games respectively in 2026 – none since Round 12.

Whatever the Bombers decide, though, Joyce is keen for fans to know just how influential that duo have been to the VFL team’s September run – on the field and off.

“Both of them have been outstanding,” he said.

“They’ve been amazing for the group, and then so good for me and the other coaches as well to help lead the way as experienced heads, both at training and in game in our meetings.

“I’ve seen lots of examples over the journey where experienced players come back into a VFL team, and there’s at times animosity about coming back and playing and still having to play.

“I could not be any more impressed with those two about their application around wanting to do everything they can to help the team succeed.

Their performances have been outstanding also.”

Gresham bagged four goals to lead the way in the Bombers’ semi final win over the Devils, while Guelfi laid a game-high 12 tackles.

It’s reflective of a strong attitude across the club towards the VFL program throughout the season – an attitude that shows the Bombers, for all the trials they’ve endured over the last two decades, remain united where it matters most.

At a time when most AFL players not involved in September are planning their overseas trips, captain Andrew McGrath, along with young gun Isaac Kako and defender Jaxon Prior, joined the team in the Apple Isle to support them against the Devils.

“They all flew down to Tassie to watch us play,” Joyce said of that trio.

“That gives you a bit of an indication of how invested those guys are.

“The buy-in from all the players has been exceptional. I can’t fault them.

“There’s a number of the AFL-listed players that are on holidays now and don’t qualify but have still been supporting.

“Mason Redman is a continual supporter of the program, he’s been coming to training and trying to be a part of it.

“There’s so many of the other boys as well. There’s live examples.

“The guys were all there at the elimination final versus Williamstown – all supporting, getting in the rooms, being a part of it.

“The number of messages and support that we’re getting from the players and also the staff as well has been enormous.”

It’s been a while since Bombers supporters have needed to buy tickets to see their team play this deep into September.

But 21 years since the club’s last AFL finals win, the fan base’s hunger for success could not have been made clearer when within two minutes, the full 3,500 tickets on offer for the preliminary final were snapped up.

Had four times that amount been on offer, they wouldn’t have lasted much longer, either, with Bombers supporters taking to social media to criticise the VFL permitting the Hawks to host the match at, in the words of one fan who spoke to CODE Sports, a “construction site”.

“I’m expecting a good Essendon crowd and a loud one,” Joyce told foxfooty.com.au.

“Everyone’s excited. The club, the supporters, the players are really engaged and focused on the opportunity that’s in front of us this week.”

The challenge is a daunting one: the Hawks boast a similar level of AFL-listed players in their VFL team to the Bombers, and arrive well rested after clinching a home preliminary final with a thrilling win over Werribee a fortnight ago.

With the AFL team preliminary final bound, Joyce is aware of the “extra motivation” that comes from knowing a strong VFL performance could open the door to a senior call-up at the most important time of the season.

“Clearly the individuals are going to want to impress,” he said.

“If there was a change or an injury from an AFL point of view if they (Hawthorn) get through to the grand final or preliminary final, they’re putting themselves up for selection. Of course that’ll definitely be a factor for them.”

But ahead of the club’s first prelim since 2019, when the VFL team last made it this far, Joyce knows the journey from when he took over some 18 months ago has already been significant.

“Ever since I got in, everyone’s been really supportive, both players and staff, to make the program what it is now,” he said.

“I like to think that we’ve built over these last couple of years a program as a whole to really help and develop players, and bring the VFL and AFL listed players together.

“I’m proud of where we’ve been able to get the program over these last couple of years to the point where it is right now.”

If the Bombers need any inspiration as to what VFL success can inspire at AFL level, they only need to look back 12 years to 2014.

In their first season after forming their own reserves team, Footscray toppled a Box Hill team featuring Cyril Rioli – desperate to prove his fitness ahead of the Hawks’ AFL Grand Final a week later – to secure a VFL premiership in front of nearly 24,000 success-starved fans.

Just two years later, many of the players involved played key roles in the Western Bulldogs’ historic flag to end a 62-year drought.

Among the VFL graduates were Jason Johannisen and Tory Dickson – the former won the Norm Smith Medal that famous Saturday in 2016, while the latter kicked three goals.

It hasn’t been easy to be an Essendon fan in 2026.

But amid the doom and gloom, the Bombers’ VFL run has captivated the fans.

And a win on Saturday would only enhance what has become one of this year’s most underrated footy stories.

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