Badly in need of fresh start heading into the 2014 AFL season, the Essendon Bombers unveiled their new $27 million training facility a couple of weeks into the club’s pre-season.
The club opened the doors of the new training facility near Melbourne airport on Monday, revealing a state of the art base built within an aircraft hangar.
Included are a world-class gym, two footy ovals replicating the size of both the MCG and Etihad Stadium, two altitude rooms and a three-lane lap pool. Also there, a turf-bottom training ground the size of five basketball courts.
The Bombers experienced a tumultuous 2013 season that unraveled as the club’s doping scandal dragged on during the AFL/ASADA investigation and in the media. But the new base represents a positive as the supplement investigation continues.
“It’d be hard to argue this wasn’t the best facility in Australia at least,” captain Jobe Watson said Monday.
“The club sought out the best parks and facilities all over the world, whether it’s summer or winter (sport) and they’ve taken what they could,” Watson said.
Players could still be at risk of lengthy suspensions for their part in the club’s use of a radical supplement program during the 2012 season.
“We understand it’s not in the past. We understand it’s an ongoing investigation.”
“We’ve dealt with the possibility of infraction notices since the 5th of February, and we were still able to perform our jobs since then.
“We understand it’s something that potentially could happen, but to live in a world of hypotheticals it wouldn’t be worth it to be a footballer.”
Stand-in coach Mark Thompson will lead the team in 2014 as James Hird serves his suspension for playing a leading role in the debacle.
The new Bomber base has reportedly left the club some $5 million in debt.
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