Essendon champion Michael Long bowed out of AFL football today in an emotional press conference held in the Hall of Fame at Windy Hill. It was the end of a colorful and memorable career that spanned 190-games. The Essendon Football Club Yearbook will be released later this month and Simon Matthews caught up with some of the people who have shaped and been a part of Long's career. Attached is an excerpt from the upcoming story. For the full story, make sure you grab a copy of the upcoming Yearook.

Michael Long might just be one of the best things that ever happened to Essendon Football Club. Essendon Football Club might just be one of the best things that ever happened to Michael Long. Long gave Essendon a football genius rarely seen. He gave it humour. He gave it soul. He gave it belief. And Essendon gave Long a vehicle to inspire his people. A vehicle to open the eyes of a nation that was in so many ways blinded.

Long retired from AFL football at the end of season 2001. It was the end of a 13-year on-field association with Essendon Football Club. The finish, as expected, wasn’t easy for either party. Long agonised over the decision – one which ended his dream of playing in a premiership side with his protégé Dean Rioli. For Essendon, to tell one of its favorites that the time was right was akin to telling your son it was time to leave home. In the end, Long’s knees probably made the decision for both.

While Michael Long won’t be a permanent fixture around Windy Hill from next season onwards, a bond has been formed – it might be stretched but it will never be broken. For all those who have played alongside Long, for all those who have coached him or those who have simply marveled at his sublime skills, the memories will live forever.

Kevin Egan is a current board member at Essendon Football Club. He was Essendon’s football manager when Long arrived at Windy Hill in 1989. Egan also played 65 games for Essendon in the 1960s. He has been around football for the best part of four decades and when he says Michael Long is the best aboriginal footballer the game has seen, you sit up and take notice. “He was just an exceptional talent … so balanced and so aware. He is the best aboriginal footballer we’ve seen without a doubt,” Egan said. “We basically knew what we had the first time we saw him play.”

Egan was heavily involved in the early part of the Michael Long story – it was both humorous and tumultuous. Egan and recruiting manager Noel Judkins went to Darwin to meet with Long to try and convince him to come to Windy Hill. “We met him at a local restaurant and we were just chatting away to him and he just looked at us the whole time. He hardly said a word. At the end he got up and rushed out. I asked some time later why he had been so quiet and discovered he had a date and didn’t want to prolong the conversation because he was already late,” Egan laughed.