AFTER ending its season against Collingwood on Saturday, Essendon players have used their Windy Hill home for match preparation for the last time.

The club is set to start training at its new Melbourne Airport facility over pre-season, and will be mostly be based there by the start of next season.

The move from Essendon to nearby Tullamarine will mark the end of more than 90 years for the red and black at the venue. 

Essendon started playing home games there in 1922 and used it continuously until 1991, when it moved to the MCG. In 2000, it shifted its home games to Etihad Stadium.

The Napier Street venue has remained the club's training facility and administration headquarters.

To mark Essendon's long tenure at the ground, the AFL Record caught up with current star David Zaharakis this week.

He got into the spirit and dressed in a playing kit resembling previous generations of Bombers who took to the field at Windy Hill, with the Dick Reynolds and Allan Hird stands in the background.

Zaharakis recalls going to the ground for a clinic as a Bombers supporter growing up, and knows it will be bittersweet when the time comes to leave.

"You need an elite facility if you're going to be of the top teams of the AFL so we're looking forward to that, but it is a shame to be leaving Windy Hill," he said.