“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Sir Isaac Newton
There is a bit of background to this team. We were accused of being soft after the 1998 ‘marshmallow’ finals match and then seemingly lost the unlosable 1999 Preliminary Final after a dominant year.
It was also the period where apparently Graeme McMahon’s casting vote saw Kevin Sheedy reappointed.
Whilst we must marvel at the resilience of Carlton, the dominating last quarter of Anthony Koutoufides and the sublime talent of Lance Whitnall sometimes it’s not all as it seems. Imagine playing the vast majority of the season without James Hird, Scott Lucas and Jason Johnson, all with major injuries. People forget that sometimes. In Hird’s case his mangled navicular went very close to ending his career.
We certainly shot ourselves in the foot in that third quarter against Carlton having an amazing 17 shots for goal and kicking 7.7 and three out on the full.
So Kevin Sheedy made us suffer the indignation of watching North Melbourne win the premiership and then he marched us straight across the road where we dined as a group and followed up with a team meeting. It wasn’t a team meeting about 1999, it was more so putting in place the ‘seeds of destruction’ for the 2000.
So the squad went into the season in a focused, yet filthy frame of mind with regular videos of the last five minutes of the Preliminary Final constantly rammed down the throats of the players. Hird made a comeback, Johnson and Lucas were fit, Dean Wallis did his best preseason, while John Barnes, Adam Ramanauskas, Dean Rioli and Mark McVeigh emerged.
In Round One the team demolished Port Adelaide by 94 points in our first game at the then Colonial Stadium. The side remained on top of the ladder for the full 22 rounds and went on to win the first final against North Melbourne by a staggering 125 points. Lloyd with seven goals and Hird with five toasted the marshmallows.
In days where possession was hard won due to tough one on one football Joe Misiti had 41 possessions. Misiti, the conductor of orchestra, went on to win Essendon’s Player of the Finals Series Trophy. That was some effort in such a team.
Along the journey much was written about the undefeated season. In all honesty I reckon it was raised from about round 16 when it got ‘interesting’. In round 21 the Bulldogs under Terry Wallace, played a great tactical game and put that to bed very quickly. It would’ve been nice but it wasn’t a big issue. One of Sheeds' great sayings summed it up: ‘get on with it’. Of more importance was the great disappointment that we felt for the brilliant Rioli, who snapped a collar bone courtesy of a fair Chris Grant bump. The emotion was there for all to see on Grand Final day when Dean was pretty inconsolable after the game.
Has there been a more perfect team assembled? I’ve mentioned Misiti. There was the grace and sublime skills of Mercuri and Hird. The perfectly balanced forward line of Long, Mercuri, Berwick, Moorcroft, Lloyd, Lucas and Alessio. Consummate team players in Paul Barnard (four goals in GF), Chris Heffernan and Justin Blumfield and the youth of Adam Ramanauskas. ‘Barny’ was so team orientated that he reckons he played on two men - his own man and then pushing up the ground to pick up Hird’s man. A fraction of truth in that piece of folklore! Blake Caracella was a brilliant reader of the play. He was affectionally dubbed ‘the skunk’ by his teammates because no one wanted to go near him.
Coached by Mark Harvey and assembled by Kevin Sheedy the backline consisted of Mark Johnson, Dustin Fletcher, Sean Wellman and of course the ‘trio of terror’ in Dean Solomon, Dean Wallis and Damien Hardwick. They sort of took you back to the great teams of the mid 60’s when Bluey Shelton hit anything that moved.
And of course there was ‘Barnesy’. John was the discussion point for many meetings after being shown the door by Bomber Thompson at Geelong. Sheeds was concerned with Barnesy’s antics and the fact that he had already swapped him for Sean Denham some time ago. But John had played in four losing Grand Finals and wanted one last go at it with his great mate Dean Wallis. Harvey and Wallis backed Barnes in. Sheeds respected their opinion and went with it. John was a brilliant ruckman and was always one of the best on the training track. To say he added a different dimension to the change rooms was an understatement. Don’t mix up Barnes the ‘character’ with Barnes the ‘footballer’. He was a wonderful tap ruckman, with great skills either side of the body and a very smart player. His combination with Misiti, Hird and Jason Johnson through the midfield was devastating.
Essendon lost just one game on their way to the ten goal Grand Final win.
Our theme for the year is an interesting story. It was presented to the group by John Quinn. 'Jeramiah Johnson' (Robert Redford) is a movie about a fur trapper and an Indian fighter constantly fighting off attack. He is isolated and alone.
One day a fellow trapper finds him after he has been constantly attacked by Indians and says:
“Maybe you best go down to a town, get outta these mountains…it’s not safe.”
Johnson replies: “I’ve been to a town.”
The moral of the story is we (Essendon) have been there (1999 v Carlton) and we are not going back. ‘Sheeds’ liked it. He modelled himself on Robert Redford I reckon.
We had a great Board led by Graeme McMahon, an inclusive and hardworking front office led by Peter Jackson. Matthew Drain was an excellent Football Manager and we just had a great team under him in recruiting (Adrian Dodoro), development (Dean Bailey), opposition analysis (Blair Hartley), the medical department (Doc Reid and ‘Rubber ‘Reynolds) and the best trainers and physios you could imagine.
There were some old fashioned assistants that loved their footy club, in TD, Harves and yours truly. We moved witches hats better than anyone. A couple of all-time greats in Kevin Sheedy and John Quinn kept that motley crew focused - not the easiest job. From the top offices to trainers, to the players, we were all close, all friends and to this day we still are.
They weren’t just playing a great team, they had to contend with a great club – and that is bloody hard to beat.
We are all better people for having known each other.
In memory of the ‘Giants of Essendon’; Bruce Heymanson (Essendonian), Ron Kirwan (Essendonian), Graeme McMahon (Chairman), Neil ‘Nobby’ Clarke (runner) and Dean Bailey (Development Coach).
