With the first pair of episodes and my opening review now in our rearview mirror, instalments 3 and 4 of 'The Bombers: Stories of a Great Club' saw the clock hands shift forward through the 60s, 70s, and early 80s.
While the heroic deeds of shooting stars like Geoff Blethyn and Graham Moss were covered brilliantly on the Fox Sports documentary series, this period also represented a genuine lull for the league's equal most successful club.
But fear not Bomber fans, as a man named Sheedy was along to right the ship very shortly afterward.
As someone that has begun dedicating an hour each Tuesday to watching this stirring series, I was again left pondering by the time the screen faded to black.
So, before the next set of chapters are read out on Melbourne Cup Day, I sought to find answers to another series of queries that have sat on my mind.
Ask any Essendon fan with grey hair to describe Geoff Blethyn, and you’re sure to hear an array of adjectives.
While gifted, precise, and athletic are likely to be mentioned throughout their assessments, the descriptor of bespectacled is a certainty to be raised.
Although the Strathmore schoolboy’s first steps between the classroom and the goal square came without his now-iconic Buddy Holly-styled frames, the peak of Blethyn’s days inside a sashed guernsey came when his troublesome contact lenses were finally traded out.
As the only AFL/VFL player to have ever topped the tonne with the aid of prescription glasses, Blethyn is, without doubt, the greatest name to have ever played top-flight football while looking like a cast member of ‘Revenge of the Nerds’.
Still, just who did the now 70-year-old beat out to claim this honour?
Given I’ve never seen a player at any level wear glasses on game day, I’ve had to hit the history books to find out, and according to my shotgun studies, Blethyn had only two known competitors.
With 13 games and 11 goals for Carlton in 1977, Tony Southcombe made an instant impact in his singular season at Princes Park. Yet by the completion of a year that saw the Blues miss the five by less than a win, the country champion called it quits and headed back to Bendigo.
Having sustained a pair of injuries from both a football and a cricketing four-piece, St Kilda’s Chris Stone decided for an unconventional antidote in a pair of modified squash goggles
Despite his career spanning just four seasons between 1987 and 1981, the rover turned businessman went on to marry the former Prime Minister of Belgium, putting paid to the theory that sports and politics should never mix.
While there have been some amazing backstories from contests on football’s biggest day, the fact that someone managed to kick four goals straight while wearing only one contact lens should rate higher amongst them.
Add in the fact that the 1968 decider against Carlton represented just the third time that then 17-year-old Geoff Blethyn had played league football, and this narrative begins to take on a Cinderella complexion.
However, with Ron Barrassi’s Blues departing the Melbourne Cricket Ground with the cup that day instead of Jack Clarke's Bombers, this possible fairytale had turned into a Greek tragedy by the sounding of the final siren.
Despite being marked by legendary Carlton fullback, Wes Lofts, Blethyn got the best of his senior opponent and finished with six kicks, four marks, and half of the Dons’ eight majors.
Still, if the last of the teenager’s kicks had flown through the sticks, another flag over Windy Hill probably would have as well.
Now, there is no way I am going to scold an optically challenged teenager in this revisionist history, but had Blethyn’s time-on torpedo from the Wayne Harmes pocket brought up his fifth goal for the day, the Essendon could have been the proud owners of 17 cups to Carlton’s 15.
Although the ultimate success eluded Blethyn during his days for his local club and then again at Claremont, a premiership with the Port Adelaide Magpies in his final professional game was enough to send the wiry forward out a winner.
There’s an old adage that claims truth is often stranger than fiction.
And when speaking of Essendon’s cheer squad during their three-point loss to Carlton 53-years ago, this is absolutely the case.
As someone who has always loved pouring over words and vision from days gone by, it has quite often been the little things that have stuck with me.
And when watching the docuseries’ third episode on Tuesday night, this trend continued to run true.
While a now grey Geoff Blethyn was speaking about the roar of the more than 100,000 people packed into the MCG for the 1968 decider, footage of his first goal then panned to the Bombers’ raucous barrackers celebrating on the bottom deck of the old Southern Stand.
Now, this all seems pretty harmonious, but when the United States’ star-spangled banner popped up amongst a sea of red and black, I couldn’t help but scratch my head.
Though this ‘easter egg’ remains completely irrelevant to anything the series was trying to convey, it seems as though I wasn’t the only one to notice the peculiarly placed pennant.
Having gone on to check if any Essendon player from that year had any American links, I’ve come up empty in my searches.
So, if you have any knowledge as to why someone carted an incongruous flag through the turnstiles that day, please get in touch, as like an MS Dhoni victim, I’m well and truly stumped.
It's no secret to anyone with even a mild interest in Australian Rules Football that the Essendon and North Melbourne Football clubs do not like one another.
While there has been time spent apart in separate leagues between 1897 and 1925, the Roos and Bombers have long had rivalry based upon geography, class, and even religion.
Still, while it was a quintet of Essendon players - Geoff Gosper, Darryl Gerlach, Don McKenzie, Barry Davis, and Geoff Pryor - that sewed the seeds for player empowerment via a strike, it was actually the Arden Street club that benefitted the most from their sacrifices.
As explained by historian, Dr. Dan Eddy, the Essendon player's decision to stand out of a practice game in 1970 allowed for greater riches to eventually come players' way, as well as the construction of an athlete's union and the creation of the 10-year rule.
Although the advent of AFL free-agency has overtaken the VFL's primitive efforts to allow footballers to move where they wish after prolonged stints of loyalty, the short-lived ruling allowed players who had given a decade's service at one club to jump ships between August 1972 and May 1973.
Despite initially voting against the open-market decision, the cash-rich Roos loaded up at the marketplace by signing Geelong's Doug Wade, South Melbourne's John Rantall, and Davis from the Dons.
Given all three went on to play key roles in the Kangaroos' debut flag in 1975, a begrudging thank you is probably still due.
However, as the frostiness is still palpable along Mt Alexander Road today, the Bombers are unlikely to be holding their breath.
With fashion trends operating on the theory that everything that was once old will eventually become new again, is it time for Essendon to bring back their polarising red shorts?
Worn between 1975 and 1982, the eye-catching addition to the club's uniform was brought in for the commencement of colour TV broadcasts and were ditched due to reports that Kevin Sheedy hated them.
Although they were donned during an eight-year stretch when the Dons played just three finals, the shorts still have some supporters in certain circles.
As the league has continued pushing their agenda for clash strips, the return of the red could well allow Essendon to wear their iconic sashed jumper on a full-time basis.
Despite the fact this may not please everyone - especially those that remember the dark years of their original era - they would have at least helped fans decipher the Bombers from the Magpies during the annual Anzac Day clash earlier this year.
Following a Round 14 loss in 1975 to old rivals Carlton, Essendon head coach, Des Tuddenham, was completely displeased.
Given Tuddenham had spent his entire professional career despising the Blues, the fact that his players had leaked 14-goals in the second-term of their 80-point loss on their home deck, a simple spray from the fiery former Magpie was never going to cut the mustard.
When an Essendon playing list including names such as Robert Shaw, Simon Madden, and 'Rotten' Ronny Andrews arrived back at the scene of the Windy Hill crime the next day, 'Tuddy' was in a tyrannical mode.
Although Sunday recovery sessions of that era were usually reserved for light duties and a debrief, the badly beaten Bombers were told to crawl around the boundary line on their hands and knees as punishment.
While the practice was referred to as “the most degrading thing I have ever done in my life" by Bomber champion, Ken Fletcher, Tuddenham claimed his militaristic methods achieved their desired results.
“I was angry and I couldn’t sleep all night. I got to the ground and said ‘Right, you’re on your hands and knees, crawl halfway today and lets get going again, that was a pathetic performance’,” he said on Fox Sports' coverage.
“But then I said go down and get a couple of slabs of beer and let the players open up and I sat back and let them fire at me, which was good.
“They won the next four games!”
Despite the Dons bouncing back after hitting the deck 46-years ago, it's unlikely in this age of unions, seltzers, mass media, and players holding the whip hand that anything of this ilk will ever be repeated.
However, a few old-timers might have been keen for a reprisal after Essendon's goalless second-half during their recent elimination final loss.
Now, before any of you rabid Bomber backers come for my head, this is not designed to chide, question, or shut down Simon Madden's ability, as that is an avenue only a fool would walk.
But as the elder of the two brothers who both played for Essendon commenced his career behind a Brownlow Medallist, it is worth wondering just how long the 378-gamer would have been made to wait for the top job had history have played out differently.
Having begun his career with WAFL club Claremont before making the journey across to the muddy ovals of Melbourne, Graham Moss proved a revelation in the ruck throughout his 84 games for the Bombers.
While dominance at centre bounces and assertiveness behind the play were key skills of the Western Australian, Moss also managed to slot 67 goals in his four seasons at Windy Hill.
However, despite claiming three Crichton Medals and the Brownlow in 1976, the Hall of Fame member packed his bags at the end of the same season and went back across the Nullarbor.
Given Moss was only 26 at the time, and the fact that he managed to play another nine seasons of senior football with the Tigers, one does wonder just how long Madden would have played second-string for.
After debuting in Round 15, 1974, Madden was used by his opening pair of coaches - Des Tuddenham and Bill Stephen - as a tall forward option.
Across the course of the time he shared duties with Moss, the former schoolteacher played a total of 45 games for a mean of just 2.5 hit-outs in each.
When the latter departed, these figures rose sharply across his next 333 appearances, with his final 16 seasons seeing an average of 15.3 tap work wins per week.
There is absolutely no doubting the fact that Simon Madden is one of the greatest ruckmen to ever play the game. Yet, had the then best and fairest player at the Bombers continued his career east of Perth, the Victorian's CV may have been somewhat stunted.
Still, as someone that finished their career with a Norm Smith Medal, a pair of premiership wins, and a place as Essendon's ruckman in their team of the 20th century, one would also imagine that Madden would have taken Moss' baton whenever he was good and ready.
While he may have spent the entirety of his playing career with the Tigers, across the length of Kevin Sheedy's 27 season stretch at Windy Hill, the mastermind rebuilt the club in his image.
However, before being announced as the Bombers' new coach in October of 1980, Sheedy had to pitch his case for the role on more than one occasion.
According to Sheedy's illustrated autobiography published in 2018, the first full-time coach was interviewed twice at the home of then club president, Colin Stubbs, before the Bombers' brass eventually granted him the position following a 13-1 majority vote was passed.
Although this kind of rigamarole is consistent with plenty of professions, the now 73-year-old was aware he was competing with a man who already had a VFL premiership to his name in Allan Jeans.
Despite Sheedy's four flags from 634 games coached proved the board right in the end, it is worth wondering just how Essendon's modern history would have appeared had 'Yabby' have coached the Bombers instead of Hawthorn.
Even though his red and black CV is unlikely to ever be bettered, Sheedy's greatest contribution should be seen as the fact that he dragged the Dons kicking and screaming into modernity - something Jeans may have dragged his feet with given the pair's 14 year age gap.
While still a disciplinarian of some repute, Sheedy was also known as someone that had a genuine bond with his players, as evidenced by the fact every name, bar one, that he coached all congratulated him when his reign came to an end in 2007.
His method through madness was also something that worked for a list that contained names from every corner of the country that also represented a plethora of differing personalities.
Although Jeans himself had strong reports with many Hawks and Saints under his stewardship, the fact that he was a man of the law would have meant that reining in names like Merv Neagle and Paul Vander Haar may have proved a challenge.
Still, as he was able to tame 'Dermie' and pin 'Dipper' at Glenferrie one night, perhaps the tasks wouldn't have been beyond him at all.
As both men ended their respective careers at Essendon and Hawthorn with three flags and indelible legacies, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone between Napier Street and Linda Crescent that would approve a swap between the pair.
But it's definitely worth a second thought in hindsight.
I am aware that I'm ruining the cliffhanger between episodes, but as the final siren of the 1984 grand final sounded almost four decades ago, if I'm the person that has spoilt the result for you, then all I can say is I'm glad you're out of your coma.
As mentioned, Kevin Sheedy's appointment at Essendon in 1980 saw him become the first full-time coach in VFL history, and although the Bombers were battered in the decider three years afterwards, was this position the key to the Dons writing their wrongs 12 months later?
While his competitors, including Jeans at Hawthorn, were still working 9-to-5 roles during the week, Sheedy was scheming, brooding, and building for a shot at redemption.
His monumental spray of the playing list after their 83 point loss in the 1983 grand final is now the stuff of lore, but if the former plumber was still forced to fix S-bends between Monday to Friday, would a 107 point turnaround have been possible?
Given the number of unquantifiable factors at play here, I can't profess to hold an answer, but when someone isn't asked to multitask, the results are usually much better.
And as the 1984 cup is located at Tullamarine and not Waverley, I guess the proof is in the pudding.
While this piece has looked at the wacky, the serious, and the unlikely, I think it's only right to end on a resoundingly positive note.
Given the effort that collecting the many interviews needed for a documentary series like this was going to take, it was also going to take plenty of time too.
And while the task may have been exhaustive, it allowed Essendon fans to see club icon Dr. Bruce Reid speak glowingly of his team once again.
The long-serving club doctor may have passed away in October of last year after losing his battle with mesothelioma, but as this series has left few stones unturned and even fewer voices unheard from, the Essendon legend made his first on-screen appearance last Tuesday.
Last week, I spoke about how large Jack Jones' legacy is at the club, but if this previous conversation is extended to include people that never donned the sash, then Reid's name will never be excluded.
Having served Essendon in a professional sense for 37 years, the former Hawk didn't just play a role in the club's last four premierships, but he also acted as the glue between these cups and the generations of players that relied upon his expertise.
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