Mark Baguley Biography

Mark Baguley announces he will retire at the end of the 2019 season.

"It has been a challenging ride and I’m very thankful for the opportunity and the time that the club, players and coaches have invested in me and my family," Baguley said.

"I have loved every minute of my time at the Bombers, I had no idea how long my career would last, but I was fully committed to giving it everything I had.

"One thing I felt I never lacked was being competitive and once I finally got my first taste of AFL, I was hooked. It's an awesome job to be able to come to the club each day and do something that you love. I never took that for granted."

Jed Lamb is not expected to pursue any further action against Bomber Mark Baguley after the Essendon defender directed a sledge at the Blues forward about his father which led to a melee between the Blues and Bombers players.

Lamb's father was murdered in a brutal axe attack in 1999.

Lamb is believed to have accepted Baguley's apology after the game, despite having told the Essendon lock-down defender not to discuss his father during the contest.

It has been suggested Baguley was unaware of Lamb's father's death.

Mark Baguley says Essendon teammate and No.1 draft pick Andrew McGrath can make a quick impact for the Dons.

"He's a super young kid, Andy. He's really polite guy and straight away you can tell he's a classy footballer in the way he moves around the field. He really loves his footy as well so he's great to work with," Baguley said.

"He comes to training every day and wants to learn, and he wants to play footy early in his career. He's been training well and is a super athlete as well so I think he'll have a good career."

Mark Baguley has enjoyed an interruption-free pre-season after a knee injury ruled the important Essendon defender out of the second half of 2016.

"I've had a pretty good pre-season and I haven't missed a session. The strength and conditioning staff set out a program for me and targets for me that I need to reach each week, and I have had no setbacks yet so training's going well," Baguley said.

The reliable backman played 10 of the first 11 games of last season before undergoing surgery on a torn piece of cartilage in his knee.

"It was pretty disappointing. I've been pretty lucky with injury and haven't missed much footy and to know I wasn't going to be playing the last three months of the season was tough," he said.

"The team was slowly improving and it was good to watch football from a different perspective. I sat in the coaches' box a little bit and helped out with coaching on game-day and it was just good for a different perspective."

Mark Baguley's season is in jeopardy after the Essendon defender underwent knee surgery this week.

The small backman has been carrying the problem for several weeks but the club has decided to put its vice-captain in for an operation.

"We'll wait for the surgeon's advice after he catches up with Mark after the surgery settles and we'll get a better idea from there," Bombers fitness boss Justin Crow said.

"It's entirely possible (that he will return to the team). Mark will be really keen to do that. We'll take the surgeon's advice and do the best thing by his long-term playing career."

Emerging Bombers Zach Merrett and Joe Daniher have been named in the club's rejigged leadership group, which will feature rotating top-up players throughout the season.

Essendon was forced to change its leadership group when five members – captain Jobe Watson, vice-captain Dyson Heppell, David Myers, Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley – were suspended for the season for anti-doping breaches.

The remaining two members of the group that was announced in December, Brendon Goddard and Mark Baguley, have taken on the respective captain and vice-captaincy duties this year.

The bans left several vacancies, with Merrett, Daniher and James Gwilt added to leadership positions, and David Zaharakis reinstalled into the leadership group after being cut at the end of last season.

"Obviously development of our youngsters is a bit of a priority this year so it makes sense that we've got a couple of younger players who are held in pretty high regard by the group and they're emerging leaders," Essendon football manager Rob Kerr.

"Given the circumstances and given the exposure to the full leadership repertoire and what's involved in the senior leadership group level will no doubt hold them in good stead and fast-track their progress."

Jobe Watson has rediscovered his passion and will lead Essendon for the seventh season after being elected the club's skipper for 2016.

The Bombers announced their leadership group on Friday, with the 30-year-old Brownlow medallist to take the reins again with midfielder Dyson Heppell his vice captain.

Essendon's leadership group will also include David Myers, Brendon Goddard and Cale Hooker, with Michael Hurley and Mark Baguley added to the group.

Heppell captained the Bombers during Watson's nine-week absence at the end of last season due to a shoulder injury, but Watson said he "had the passion" to hold the position again.

"I spent some time away by myself overseas and had a long think about what I wanted out of footy and my role at the football club," Watson said.

"Over there I decided that I was still passionate about playing and still had the urge to lead and was excited about leading this team and this club.

"In my mind once it was ratified that my teammates felt that I was the right person to do it, I knew I still had the passion for the role."

Mark Baguley signs on with the Bombers for two more years after a consistent season in the backline.

"I feel like Essendon has provided me with the best opportunity to develop my footy, and I wanted to repay the faith they’ve shown in me," Baguley said.

"I know a number of the boys have mentioned it before, but we're a really tight group and we feel we have the list that can compete with the best and hopefully achieve some finals success in the future."

Mark Baguley undergoes surgery on his hand and will miss at least the next month of pre-season training.

Baguley fractured the metacarpal (the long bone in the hand) at training last Tuesday and the club decided a plate needed to be inserted to help speed up the healing process.

"If you put a plate in there, which we wouldn't do for 'Joe Blow', because it's going to heal and there's no urgency, they can be in full training and not miss out on a pre-season," Bombers doctor Bruce Reid said.

"If you don't plate it the problem is that all he can do is really run, he can't handle the ball for five weeks and he can't have contact for six (weeks)."

Young Bombers Jackson Merrett, Elliott Kavanagh and Mark Baguley sign two-year deals with the club.

"It is a big show of faith that our younger players want to remain in the red and black. Our supporters should be very excited about our future," Essendon coach James Hird said.

Mark Baguley makes his AFL debut for Essendon at Football Park with 20 disposals (12 kicks and 8 handballs), 7 marks and 2 tackles in a 50-point win over Port Adelaide.

Essendon elevates mature-age rookie Mark Baguley to its senior list in anticipation of selection to play against Port Adelaide.