Oh yeah, I forgot that Essendon "winning more games/finishing higher on the ladder" in 2009 garnered a fantastic "general attendance, sponsorship, fixture/broadcast (especially now leading into 2011), keeping the momentum up and relevance in the comp," they reaped these "benefits" and are in a great position to make big strides in the next season.
I'm 100% positive that they're glad that they didn't focus merely on the "development type stuff" in light of reaping these rewards.