Dear John,

            Thank you. Thank you for giving us Essendon supporters something to be proud of. It has been a long haul, this past three years, but 2016 has reminded us of what we love about our great club.

Thank you for introducing and fostering so many of our ‘Baby Bombers’, for giving responsibility, and valuable game time, to the likes of Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Joey Daniher, Aaron Francis, Orazio Fantastia, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Marty Gleeson, Patty Ambrose, Michael Hartley, Kyle Langford, Jayden Laverde, Jake Long and Will Hams. How exciting it must be for Dyson [Heppell], Michael [Hurley], Cale [Hooker] and the rest of our returning players, to see the rapid development of those younger guys. We supporters are already chomping-at-the-bit to start pre-season training for 2017! 

You were a tough bugger as a player, John, as fierce as they came, and you took no prisoners in that West Coast Eagles back half. So we know you will instill a hardness to our team that will make opponents fear playing the Mighty Bombers; just like they did in 2000, and in 1985. You’re a winner, as your two premierships as a player and one as a coach confirm. And, of course, you’ve got those two warriors beside you, in your old mate Guy McKenna and one of Essendon’s most courageous ever soldiers Mark Harvey, so look out you 17 other teams next year!

John, both Lindsay Tanner, our Chairman, and Brendon Goddard, our Captain, have told us that they can’t think of a more ideal mentor in tough times than you, and us died-in-the-wool Bomber fans agree. What you did at the Eagles, in having to rebuild a club culture which had been fractured because of drug use among the playing group, and then what you did at the Adelaide Crows after the tragic death of coach Phil Walsh, was nothing short of remarkable. When it was announced that you would be our 26^th senior coach, we were relieved; it was like a kind-hearted, but straight-down-the-line, uncle had arrived to help nurture a splintered and lost group of family members. And how right we were! You have done a fantastic job. The Essendon family are as happy as they have ever been.

Thank you, too, John, for bringing in those extra players: James Kelly, Mathew Stokes, Jonathan Simpkin, Sam Grimley, Nathan Grima, James Polkinghorne, Matty Dea, Mark Jamar, Sam Michael, and even that annoying guy from Fremantle, Ryan Crowley! These guys will forever hold a place in our hearts for what they have sacrificed for our Club this year. Thanks guys.

John, we really appreciate how inclusive you have been this season; how honest and open you have been. It’s been tough watching the losses mount up, but that has been offset by the knowledge that things as we have known them in recent years are changing. One step through the doors of the Club and we can feel it! As Dennis Denuto once said: “It’s the vibe.” People smile at us in the café, players walk around with their heads held high, training appears fun for the guys, and we feel at home whenever we drop by. This is the Essendon Football Club we first fell in love with all those years ago. The club we brag about at work, or at school, who we support en masse each weekend. The Mighty Bombers, the greatest Club in the land!

We just wanted, no, needed, to say thank you, John. You are our general, our guiding hand, our disciplinarian, our visionary. And best of all John, you’re one of us now.

From the 57, 566 Essendon Football Club members of 2016.

Dan Eddy is the author of King Richard: The Story of Dick Reynolds, as well as Skills of Australian Football. He is the co-author of Champions: Conversations with Great Players & Coaches of Australian Football, and The Will to Fly. Eddy is a current PhD scholarship recipient (Federation University), whose project will examine the career of AFL Legend Alex Jesaulenko, and this article is an extract from his upcoming book, 'Always Striving': The Moments That Have Made the Essendon Football Club.