Looking back on the amazing career of this week’s Bomber Legend Ken Fraser, it’s hard to believe that he once played for free.

Fraser is listed at number seven in the Champions of Essendon and is a club Hall of Fame Legend after a brilliant career saw him kick 156 goals from 198 games, win two flags, two best and fairests and two runner-up finishes in the Brownlow medal.

But for the Essendon local, simply playing for the side he had fallen in love with as a kid was enough of a reward.

“My first year actually I played for nothing, I didn’t want any money, I just wanted to play for Essendon,” Fraser said.

Growing up in one of the club’s greatest eras and playing in another, Fraser considers himself lucky to have traversed some of Essendon’s best times.

“Looking back now, I’ve lived a very fortunate life as far as Essendon is concerned,” he said.

“We had triple Brownlow Medallist Dick Reynolds as our coach, double Brownlow Medallist Bill Hutchison as our reserves coach and the great John Coleman who became coach a little bit later on.

“We were in the Grand Finals in 1946, ’47, ’48, ’49, ’50 and ’51.”

One of football’s most humble champions, Fraser felt privileged to join the club legends at Windy Hill and surprised himself with his ability to stand up and perform alongside his heroes.

“It was just something wonderful for me to be able to be meeting blokes like Coleman, Reynolds, Hutchison, Jack Clarke our captain and Geoff Leek the vice-captain.

“They were just wonderful people and it was just something that as a kid I’d always hoped that I could be up there and fortunately I was. They were always very welcoming and helpful.

“I suppose looking back I was a bit surprised that I could mark as well as some of these blokes. I thought, ‘Oh crikey, this is alright’.”

After tasting sweet success with his first premiership in 1962, the centre-half forward’s greatest achievement was still to come, leading the side to a brilliant flag in 1965.

“Holding that premiership cup up was the highlight of your football career, although it’s a sense of relief, too,” Fraser said.

“That was probably the main feeling I had, ‘Thank goodness it’s over, thank goodness we’ve won it’.

“Once that feeling of relief is over, then the exuberance and the joy comes in.”

Three more years of impressive football followed before Fraser’s career came to an abrupt and disappointing end, an end that many suggest may have also cost the Bombers another premiership.

The powerful forward had suffered a devastating injury in the 1968 preliminary final, which proved to be his final appearance.

“It certainly was very, very difficult to miss out on playing in a Grand Final, because that’s what you aspire to from day one.

“In the preliminary final one of my teammates actually fell across my knee…and the knee bent and strained the ligaments badly.

“I could train, but I couldn’t turn very easily. My game was built on movement and speed and getting down to the ball and running, twisting, turning – not just high marking.”

Essendon, despite kicking more goals than their opponent, would go on to lose the decider to Carlton by just three points.

“It was a very sad end, in a way, to my football because that would have been my last game,” Fraser said.

But now is not the time to dwell on the unfortunate finale to Fraser’s glowing career, rather it is your chance to help celebrate his outstanding contribution to the club.

The Bombers will run out with a special Heritage Guernsey against St Kilda on Friday night to honour Fraser and pay tribute to his leadership in 1965, so make sure you don’t miss the chance to join in the festivities and reflect on one of the greatest people to grace the club.

To hear more from Fraser, watch Rohan Connolly’s interview for Bomber TV above or listen to the interview in full via the podcast below.