ESSENDON has admitted its decision to fly to its Wangaratta NAB Cup game with St Kilda has backfired, conceding the call to take to the sky instead of driving "hasn't come off."

The AFL cancelled the game after two chartered light aircraft carrying Essendon players and coaches were forced to return to Melbourne after being unable to land in Wangaratta, which has been drenched by rain throughout the week. St Kilda took a bus to the ground on Friday.

The planes made attempts to land at nearby Albury and Wodonga airports but were unsuccessful, and returned to Melbourne late on Saturday afternoon having departed at approximately 2pm.  

Essendon players took to Twitter after the aborted landings. Defender Kyle Hardingham tweeted that three players had vomited on the plane, while first-year player Elliott Kavanagh said it was the "#worstflightofmylife."

A number of those tweets have since been removed.

Essendon stars Jobe Watson, Michael Hurley, Dyson Heppell and Brent Stanton were set to play their first game of the year, while Saints Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna played in St Kilda's shortened game.

Bombers chief executive Ian Robson said the club had worked closely with the AFL to develop a plan to fly into the rural city and fly out straight after the game, taking into account accommodation factors and a short turnaround to Essendon’s next game on Friday night.

"We weighed all of those factors up," Robson said.

"We laid all of our cards on the table with the AFL, we made a decision, they endorsed it and it hasn’t come off on this occasion."

Robson said the club had been watching the situation closely with the AFL through the week as Wangaratta faced floods under Victoria's wet weather.

The AFL, which disallows clubs from flying to games on match-day during the home and away season, gave the flight a final tick of approval on Saturday morning.

"We were keeping a monitor on [the weather] all week. It’s always easy to be second-guessing in hindsight," Robson said.

St Kilda still gave some relief to a disappointed crowd, playing an inter-club game consisting of six ten-minute intervals. Essendon said it was likely to play a similar scratch match at Windy Hill on Sunday.

"There was never really an opportunity or an option for this game to be rescheduled for both clubs," Robson said.

St Kilda CEO Michael Nettlefold said his main disappointment lay with the local community, which had worked hard to sell out the game.

"I know Ian and Essendon are as disappointed, as we are, for the locals," Nettlefold said.

Follow Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.