Never before in Australian sport has a club’s story been told so comprehensively or so openly.

Screening from on Fox Footy and Kayo over a four-week period, The Bombers: Stories of a Great Club is an eight-part documentary series in chronological order that was commissioned for the Bombers' 150-year celebrations in 2022.

This sweeping story shows how a suburban club evolved into an Australia-wide sporting brand. Along the way, the viewer is taken inside each of the eras, from the 19^th century through to preparations for the 2022 AFL season.

Following last week's premiere, here's what you can expect from episodes three and four on Tuesday night.

BOMBERS STRIKE TURBULENCE
Episode 3, 7:30pm AEDT, Tuesday, October 26
Exclusively on Fox Footy and Kayo

Episode three focus on the later 1960s and the ‘70s.

In 1968, Strathmore schoolboy Geoff Blethyn had no idea he would be selected to play full-forward for the Bombers in the VFL Grand Final against Carlton, until the team was read out in the clubrooms the night before the match.

Blethyn had lost so many pairs of contact lenses while playing in the reserves that he went into the Grand Final with proper eyesight in only one eye. He remarkably booted half of his team’s score, and could barely see when he had a shot for goal in the dying seconds of a thriller.

This episode also deals with a time in the 1970s when the Essendon players took a stance that forever changed the salaries and conditions of League footballers and was a forerunner to the pay rates of today’s footballers.

KEVIN HAS ARRIVED
Episode 4, 8pm AEDT, Tuesday, October 26
Exclusively on Fox Footy and Kayo

This history of the Essendon Football Club kicks into overdrive in episode four with the arrival in 1981 of former Richmond hardman Kevin Sheedy to become Australian football’s first full-time coach.

In this episode, officials and players reflect candidly on how Sheedy berated them at the Grand Final dinner hours after they were thrashed by Hawthorn in the 1983 decider.

There were plenty of mad moments in Sheedy’s early years as coach, one of which saw star wingman Merv Neagle get so angry with Sheedy that he attacked the coach’s locker.

Essendon’s chairman of selectors in the 1980s, Brian Donohoe, reveals how Sheedy instructed his players to hang on to the ball at all costs to slow the game down when it was the opponents’ ball. This strategy led to the League’s introduction of the 50-metre rule.

Essendon club members will have already received an email with a one-month Kayo voucher (new and returning Kayo subscribers) to watch the month-long release of the docuseries. If you have any questions regarding your membership and access to this offer, please contact member services on (03) 8340 2000 or email membership@essendonfc.com.au.