2012 Essendon Football Club season

The 2012 Essendon Football Club season is the club's 114th season in the Australian Football League (AFL).

After a promising start to the season Essendon found themselves second on the ladder with a record of 8 wins and 1 loss (which was by a single point). The season then took an unexpected turn which saw Essendon lose 10 out of the last 13 games and miss the finals. They became the first club to have an 8–1 record and miss finals since Melbourne in the 1971 season.

Prior to the final round vice-captain Mark McVeigh announced his retirement from football after 14 season and 232 games at the club. After the Home and Away season completed Essendon captain Jobe Watson was awarded the Brownlow Medal. The highest individual accolade in the AFL. This was later handed back following the drug scandal.

The season became notorious for the illegal supplements program that was operated by the club prior to and into the 2012 season. After a three-year investigation, thirty-four players on the 2012 squad were suspected to have been administered the banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 and were suspended for the 2016 season.

Trades
In

Out

Drafts
National Draft

Rookie Draft

Pre-Season Draft

Heritage Guernsey
On 2 July unveiled their Heritage Guernsey. It feature all the names of past premiership players in the background along with the name and signature of club legend John Colman on the breast. Under the signature include the traditional Essendon Football Club motto 'suaviter in modo, fortiter in re' which dates back to the 1870s and translates as 'gentle in manner, resolute in deed.' The most notable change to the guernsey was the removal of the black background to comply with AFL rules requiring each club to provide a clash guernsey. The new Heritage guernsey made its debut during the Round 15 game between and. This marked the end of a 114-year-long tradition as the first time the Essendon Football Club would play an AFL/VFL game without wearing its famous black and red stripe guernsey.

Round 1

 * The three teams in each pool play each other in games of two 20-minute halves, with all three games being played over a three-hour period at the one venue.

Round 12
Bye

Season Financials
EFC Annual Report 2012