Mason is flying high with new deal

Former Millicent footballer inks five year deal to stay at Essendon

In the end, Mason Redman’s decision about where to play his football going forward came down to a simple pros and cons list. In fact, it was as much about the off field as it was the on field considerations.

“For me it probably came down to lifestyle and where I wanted to spend the last half of my career,” Redman told SEN Breakfast’s Garry Lyon and Tim Watson last week. “Me and my partner will settle down soon and start a family at some stage, so (it was about) where we wanted to do that.

“We got down to the crux of it, wrote it all out, the pros and the cons and ended up settling back here.

“It came down to what we really want out of the next part of our lives.”

It is the second time last month that Redman has shattered the hopes and dreams of Crows fans.

He launched one of his trademark long running goals in the first minute of the July 9 clash with the Crows, which the Bombers dominated, and now he has turned down the club’s overtures, rubbing salt into the wounds by suggesting if the conversations about the move had happened last year he may have been lured back to his home State.

But as it is Redman has signed a five-year contract to remain at The Hangar until at least 2028. “I’ve been pretty honest with people and I know people would find this a surprise, but if I was going through the process last year I probably wouldn’t have hung around,” Redman told SEN Breakfast.

“I feel as though there were too many people pulling in different directions.

“Definitely towards the backend of last year I felt that. Probably at the start of your career as a young guy you’re just in and trying to play football, you’re trying to break in and you don’t realise that the inner or outer workings of the club actually affect the team’s performance.

“You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Redman said the arrival of head coach Brad Scott ultimately turned his head to seeing a future as a Bomber, believing Scott will be the club’s next premiership coach. He has also formed a close bond with CEO Craig Vozzo.

“I feel as though Brad is the best senior coach I’ve had, albeit for 10 months,” Redman said.

“I’m really looking forward to working with him long-term. That’s something that’s really exciting for me.

“This might come as a surprise to people but I do think he will be the next Essendon premiership coach. Hopefully we can provide that to him as a playing group.

“It’s really exciting to get to work with him. He’s very important to the decision for me because ultimately what I want as a player is to win a premiership.

“One if the big riders behind my decision making is that’s what I want get out of my career and I think Brad is the right man for the job.

“I’m very happy with the decision and hopefully I can see some success around the corner at the Bombers.”

Redman grew up playing footy with and against Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson, and talks with Adelaide did happen but, in the end, the club that drafted him at Pick 30 in the 2015 national draft, won the day.

“It’s been widely covered that Adelaide was an option for myself,” he said. “I was definitely looking into that and being SAborn there is a bit of a pull back there. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and say that there wasn’t ever a pull there.

“I honestly think they’re going down the right path. They’re going to be a successful team for a long period of time.”

Of course, he believes that and more about Essendon, where last year, he had a fourth-place finish in the Crichton Medal, taking home the Bruce Heymanson Best Clubman Award and Most Improved Player honours at the club’s best and fairest count.