66-612: The following list details all of the major goalkicking records relating specifically to Essendon Football Club , including season highs, career highs, and game highs for both the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League) and AFL Women's , as well as the club's pre-VFL/AFL records. The AFL's annual leading goalkicker award, the Coleman Medal , is named after Essendon's John Coleman . At
132-673: A Carlton seconds team. From 1878 until 1896, the club played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), then joined seven other clubs in October 1896 to form the breakaway Victorian Football League (known as the Australian Football League since 1990). Headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Ground, known as Windy Hill , from 1922 to 2013, the club moved to The Hangar in Tullamarine in late 2013 on land owned by
198-460: A 6th successive grand final with wins over Footscray by 8 points in the first semi-final and Collingwood by 2 points in the preliminary final. The Dons sustained numerous injuries in the preliminary final, and the selectors sprang a surprise on Grand Final day by naming the officially retired Dick Reynolds as 20th man. Reynolds was powerless to prevent the inevitable; although leading at half-time, Geelong kicked five goals to Essendon's two points in
264-440: A coach, a position to which he was first appointed, jointly with Harry Hunter, in 1939 (this was while Reynolds was still a player). A year later he took the reins on a solo basis and was rewarded with immediate success (at least in terms of expectations at the time which, after so long in the wilderness, were somewhat modest). He was regarded as having a sound tactical knowledge of the game and being an inspirational leader, as he led
330-429: A drawn second semi-final against Collingwood to make it through to the grand final a week later with a score of 10.16 (76) to 8.9 (57). Then, in the grand final against Melbourne, Essendon set a grand final record score of 22.18 (150) to Melbourne 13.9 (87), featuring a 7-goal performance by centre half-forward Gordon Lane . Rover Bill Hutchinson, and defenders Wally Buttsworth, Cec Ruddell and Harold Lambert were among
396-507: A feat unmatched in that competition's history. Essendon also hold the distinction of being the only club to win a premiership in their inaugural season (1897). It has struggled to achieve significant on-field success in the 21st century, however, having won its last premiership in 2000 and last final in 2004 . Three Essendon players— John Coleman , Bill Hutchison , and Dick Reynolds —and one coach, Kevin Sheedy , are classified as " Legends " in
462-693: A few years of the move. However, the VFA, desperate for its own strategic reasons not to lose its use of the North Melbourne Cricket Ground, successfully appealed to the State Government to block Essendon's move to North Melbourne. With its preferred option off the table, the club returned to Essendon, and the Essendon VFA club disbanded, with most of its players moving to North Melbourne. The old "Same Olds" nickname fell into disuse, and by 1922
528-473: A hard-fought grand final to Richmond in 1943 by 5 points, finished 3rd in 1944, and dropped to 8th in 1945. After World War II, Essendon enjoyed great success. In the five years immediately after the war, Essendon won 3 premierships ( 1946 , 1949 , 1950 ) and were runners up twice ( 1947 , 1948 ). In 1946 , Essendon were clearly the VFL's supreme force, topping the ladder after the home-and-away games and surviving
594-814: A mansion home called "North Park", now the Columban Mission, on the south side of Woodland St, Essendon. Alexander had a country estate called "Cumberland"; and it was, with the Inverness Hotel and Alister Clark's "Glenara", a venue for after hunt celebrations until the Oaklands Hunt Club bought "Sherwood" in Somerton Rd. After Alexander's death, the Johnsons of "Glendewar", across the creek from "Cumberland" moved into Alexander's property. He died at his North Essendon residence, "North Park", on 25 August 1915 and
660-595: A new grandstand, scoreboard and re-fencing of the oval. The club's first preference was to move to North Melbourne —a move which the North Melbourne Football Club (then in the VFA) saw as an opportunity to get into the VFL. Most of Essendon's members and players were from the North Melbourne area, and sportswriters believed that Essendon would have been taken over by or rebranded as North Melbourne within only
726-482: A non-playing capacity, Essendon seemed on course for a third consecutive flag, but a controversial four-week suspension dished out to John Coleman on the eve of the finals effectively destroyed their chances. Coleman was reported for retaliation after twice being struck by his direct Carlton opponent, Harry Caspar, and without him the Dons were rated a four-goals-poorer team. Nevertheless, they still managed to battle their way to
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#1733092928000792-423: A quarter-time huddle where both coaches exchanged heated words. Essendon had tough but talented players with the likes of "Rotten Ronnie" Ron Andrews and experienced players such as Barry Davis , Ken Fletcher , Geoff Blethyn , Neville Fields and West Australian import Graham Moss . In May 1974, a controversial half-time all-in-brawl with Richmond at Windy Hill and a 1975 encounter with Carlton were testimony of
858-543: A senior club from the 1878 season . During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its home matches at Flemington Hill, but it moved to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1881. In 1878, at Flemington Hill, Essendon played its first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a full-sized field. In 1879, Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when
924-454: A succession of injuries to key players Paul Van der Haar (only fifteen games from 1986 to 1988), Tim Watson , Darren Williams , Roger Merrett and Simon Madden led the club to win only eight of its last eighteen games in 1986 and only nine games (plus a draw with Geelong ) in 1987. In July 1987, the Bombers suffered a humiliation at the hands of Sydney , who fell two points short of scoring
990-671: Is thought to have been formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken (1813–1885), the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon Football Club, and his son, Alex McCracken , its first secretary. Alex later became president of the newly formed VFL. Alex's cousin Collier McCracken, who had already played with Melbourne ,
1056-469: The 1897 VFL finals series in a round-robin event. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901 , defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final . The club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne , respectively. The club is recorded as having played at McCracken's Paddock, Glass's Paddock, and Flemington Hill. It is likely that these are three different names for
1122-729: The 1926 season , it was to be 14 years later—in 1940 —before Essendon would even contest a finals series. After the malaise of the late 1920s and early 1930, the 1933 season proved a turning point in morale despite no finals entries for the entire 1930s. Essendon saw the debut of the player regarded as one of the game's greatest-ever players, Dick Reynolds . His impact was immediate. He won his first Brownlow Medal aged 19. His record of three Brownlow victories ( 1934 , 1937 , 1938 ), equalled Fitzroy 's Haydn Bunton, Sr ( 1931 , 1932 , 1935 ), and later equalled by Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968), and Ian Stewart ( 1965 , 1966 , 1971 ). Reynolds went on to arguably even greater achievements as
1188-740: The Australian Football Hall of Fame . Essendon also fields reserve men's and women's teams in the Victoria Football League and VFL Women's , respectively. Since 2022 (S7), it has fielded a senior women's team in the national AFL Women's competition. The club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club
1254-591: The Bombers or colloquially the Dons , is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their Ascot Vale home "Alisa" adopting the name of the local borough . While the exact date is unknown, it is generally accepted to have been in 1872. The club's first recorded game took place on 7 June 1873 against
1320-591: The City of Essendon , James Taylor, on the basis that the considered the Essendon Cricket Ground "to be suitable only for the gentleman's game of cricket". The club became known by the nickname "the Same Old Essendon" from the title and hook of the principal song performed by a band of supporters which regularly occupied a section of the grandstand at the club's games. The nickname first appeared in print in
1386-580: The Melbourne Airport corporation. The club shares its home games between Docklands Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground . Zach Merrett is the current club captain . Essendon is one of Australia's best-known and most successful football clubs. It has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships, which, along with Carlton and Collingwood , is the most of any club in the competition. The club won four consecutive VFA premierships between 1891 and 1894,
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#17330929280001452-617: The North Melbourne Football Club in both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final to secure consecutive VFL premierships for the third time. Best afield in the 1950 Grand Final , in what was officially his swan song as a player, was captain-coach Dick Reynolds , who received sterling support from the likes of Norm McDonald, ruckman/back pocket Wally May , back pocket Les Gardiner , and ruckman McLure. With Reynolds, aka 'King Richard', still holding court as coach in 1951, albeit now in
1518-545: The Pacific Theatre opened in December 1941. Australian sports competition was considerably weakened, with Geelong being forced to pull out of the competition due petrol rationing. Attendances at games also declined dramatically, whilst some clubs had to move from their normal grounds due to them being used for military purposes. Many players were lost to football due to their military service. Nevertheless, Essendon went on to win
1584-460: The 1942 Premiership with Western Australian Wally Buttsworth in irrepressible form at centre half-back. Finally, the long-awaited premiership was Essendon's after comprehensively outclassing Richmond in the grand final, 19.18 (132) to 11.13 (79). The match was played at Carlton in front of 49,000 spectators. In any case, there could be no such reservations about Essendon's next premiership, which came just four years later. Prior to that Essendon lost
1650-439: The 1948 grand final. A week later Essendon waved the premiership good-bye, as Melbourne raced to a 13.11 (89) to 7.8 (50) triumph. The club's Annual Report made an assessment that was at once restrained and, as was soon to emerge, tacitly and uncannily prophetic: "It is very apparent that no team is complete without a spearhead and your committee has high hopes of rectifying that fault this coming season." The 1949 season heralded
1716-451: The 1950s. The nearest miss came in 1957 when the Bombers (as they were popularly known by this time) earned premiership favouritism after a superb 16-point Second Semi-Final defeat of Melbourne—only to lose by over 10 goals against the same side a fortnight later . 1959 saw another grand final loss to Melbourne, this time by 37 points, but the fact that the average age of the Essendon side
1782-602: The 2009 Essendon Best & Fairest awards night, outgoing CEO Peter Jackson announced that the Essendon leading goalkicker medal would be named the Matthew Lloyd Medal in honour of the recently retired Matthew Lloyd . This is sometimes referred to as the Matthew Lloyd Leading Goalkicker Award . The following is a list of Essendon leading goalkickers in each season. Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club , nicknamed
1848-566: The Bombers were no match for Geelong next week. Alex McCracken Alexander McCracken (7 May 1856 – 25 August 1915), an influential sports administrator with the Essendon Football Club , was the first president of the Victorian Football League . The son of Robert McCracken (1813-1885), the brewer and first president of the Essendon Football Club, and Margaret McCracken (1831-1905), née Hannay, Alexander McCracken
1914-703: The Essendon Cricket Ground, and playing in the Victorian Football Association . It was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon (although it was often called Essendon A, with the A standing for association). After the 1921 season, the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was closed and demolished to expand the Flinders Street Railyard . Having played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1882 to 1921, and having won four VFA premierships (1891–1894) and four VFL premierships ( 1897 , 1901 , 1911 and 1912 ) whilst there, Essendon
1980-483: The Grand Final in 1983, the first time since 1968. Hawthorn won by a then record 83 points. In 1984, Essendon won the pre-season competition and completed the regular season on top of the ladder. The club played, and beat, Hawthorn in the 1984 VFL Grand Final to win their 13th premiership—their first since 1965. The teams met again in the 1985 Grand Final , which Essendon also won. At the start of 1986 , Essendon were considered unbackable for three successive flags, but
2046-626: The Round 8 clash with the North Melbourne Football Club at Essendon. Aged just 25, he had kicked 537 goals in only 98 VFL games in what was generally a fairly low-scoring period for the game. His meteoric rise and fall were clearly the stuff of legend, and few (if any) players, either before or since, have had such an immense impact over so brief a period. According to Alf Brown , football writer for The Herald : Somewhat more colourfully, R.S. Whittington suggested: Without Coleman, Essendon's fortunes plummeted, and there were to be no further premierships in
List of Essendon Football Club leading goalkickers - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-564: The VFA 1877, when the team was captained by his cousin. He was deeply involved in various sporting/social.commercial organizations as administrator, founder, and/or patron, including: In 1894 McCracken, as a Free-Trade Democratic Association candidate, stood against the incumbent MLA , Alfred Deakin ( Independent ), for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Essendon and Flemington . Soundly defeated by Deakin — "The easy win of Mr Deakin in Essendon and Flemington
2178-401: The arrival on the VFL scene of John Coleman , arguably the greatest player in Essendon's history, and, in the view of some, the finest player the game has known. In his first ever appearance for the Dons, against Hawthorn in Round 1, 1949, he booted 12 of his side's 18 goals to create a round one record which was to endure for forty-five years. More importantly, however, he went on to maintain
2244-482: The ball was painted white. In 1883, the team played four matches in eight days in Adelaide: losing to Norwood (on 23 June) and defeating Port Adelaide (on 16 June), a combined South Australian team (on 18 June), and South Adelaide (on 20 June). The club played against the touring British footballers in 1888 . In 1891, Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892 , 1893 and 1894 . One of
2310-411: The best players. The 1947 Grand Final has to go down in the ledger as 'one of the ones that got away', with Essendon losing to Carlton by a single point despite managing 30 scoring shots to 21. As if to prove that lightning does occasionally strike twice, the second of the 'ones that got away' came just a year later, the Dons finishing with a lamentable 7.27, to tie with Melbourne (who managed 10.9) in
2376-481: The club's greatest players, Albert Thurgood , played for the club during this period, making his debut in 1892. Essendon (18 wins, 2 draws) was undefeated in the 1893 season. At the end of the 1896 season , Essendon, along with seven other clubs, formed the Victorian Football League . Essendon's first VFL game was in 1897 against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong . Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning
2442-525: The era. Following the Carlton match, the Herald described Windy Hill as "Boot Hill" because of the extent of the fights and the high number of reported players (eight in all—four from Carlton and four from Essendon). The peak of these incidents occurred in 1980 with new recruit Phil Carman making headlines for head-butting an umpire. The tribunal suspended him for sixteen weeks, and although most people thought this
2508-401: The finals in 4th place, but once there they suddenly ignited to put in one of the most consistently devastating September performances in VFL history. Collingwood succumbed first as the Dons powered their way to an 82-point first semi-final victory, and a fortnight later it was the turn of the North Melbourne Football Club as Essendon won the preliminary final a good deal more comfortably than
2574-400: The finals. Coleman's time as coach turned out to be much like his playing career: highly successful but cut short when he had to stand down due to health problems in 1967. Only six years later, on the eve of the 1973 season , he died of a heart attack at just 44 years of age. Following Coleman's retirement, the club experienced tough times on and off the field. Finals appearances were rare for
2640-718: The first time in decades, Essendon reached the final four for the first time since 1912 , finishing in third place. In the 1923 season , the club topped the ladder with 13 wins from 16 games. After a 17-point Second Semi-Final loss to South Melbourne , Essendon defeated Fitzroy (who had beaten South Melbourne) in the 1923 Grand Final (then known as a "Challenge Final" due to its different finals format): Essendon 8.15 (63) to Fitzroy 6.10 (46). Amongst Essendon's best players were half-forward flanker George "Tich" Shorten , centre half-forward Justin McCarthy , centre half-back Tom Fitzmaurice , rover Frank Maher , and wingman Jack Garden . This
2706-432: The following season. However, the club blitzed the opposition in 1962 , losing only two matches and finishing top of the table. Both losses were to the previous year's grand finalists. The finals posed no problems for the resurgent Dons, easily accounting for Carlton in the season's climax, winning the 1962 Premiership by 32 points. This was a remarkable result for Coleman, who, in just his second season of coaching, claimed
List of Essendon Football Club leading goalkickers - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-406: The local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889, and ended up gaining wide use, often as the diminutive "Same Olds". This move away from Essendon, at a time when fans would walk to their local ground, didn't go down too well with many Essendon people; and, as a consequence, a new team and club was formed in 1900, unconnected with the first (although it played in the same colours), that was based at
2838-403: The low gates for the finals meant this was never attempted again, resulting in Essendon having the unique record of winning the only two premierships without a grand final. Prominent contributors to Essendon's 1924 Premiership success included back pocket Clyde Donaldson , follower Norm Beckton , half-back flanker Roy Laing , follower Charlie May , and rover Charlie Hardy . The 1924 season
2904-424: The nucleus of what would become the formidable Essendon sides of the 1980s. This raw but talented group of youngsters took Essendon to an elimination final in 1979 under Barry Davis but were again thrashed in an Elimination Final, this time at the hands of Fitzroy. Davis resigned at the end of the 1980 season after missing out on a finals appearance. One of the few highlights for Essendon supporters during this time
2970-407: The one ground, given that McCracken's Paddock was a parcel of land that sat within the larger Glass's Paddock, which in turn was situated in an area widely known at the time as Flemington Hill. In 1882, the club moved home games to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground (since demolished) after an application to play on the Essendon Cricket Ground (later known as Windy Hill) was voted down by Lord Mayor of
3036-515: The other nicknames "Sash Wearers" and "Essendonians" that had been variously used from time to time were also abandoned. The team became universally known as "the Dons" (from Essen DON ); it was not until much later, during the War years of the early 1940s, that they became known as "The Bombers " due to Windy Hill's proximity to the Essendon Aerodrome . In the 1922 season , playing in Essendon for
3102-403: The ranks, the side plummeted to an unexpected and humiliating 28-point loss to VFA premiers Footscray in a special charity match played a week later in front of 46,100 people, in aid of Dame Nellie Melba's Limbless Soldiers' Appeal Fund , purportedly (but not officially) for the championship of Victoria. The club's fortunes dipped alarmingly—and persistently. Indeed, after finishing third in
3168-426: The same high level of performance throughout the season, kicking precisely 100 goals for the year to become the first player to kick 100 goals in a season since Richmond's Jack Titus in 1940 . The Coleman factor was just what Essendon needed to enable them to take that vital final step to premiership glory, but even so it was not until the business end of the season that this became clear. Essendon struggled to make
3234-457: The season even began, demanding higher payments. Essendon did make the finals in 1972 and 1973 under the autocratic direction of Des Tuddenham (Collingwood), but they were beaten badly in successive elimination finals by St. Kilda and did not taste finals action again until the very end of the decade. The 1970s' Essendon sides were involved in many rough and tough encounters under Tuddenham, who himself came to loggerheads with Ron Barassi at
3300-660: The side into the finals in 1940 for the first time since 1926, when the side finished 3rd. Melbourne, which defeated Essendon by just 5 points in the preliminary final, later went on to trounce Richmond by 39 points in the grand final. The Essendon Football Club adopted the nickname The Bombers in April 1940. 1941 brought Essendon's first grand final appearance since 1923, but the side again lowered its colours to Melbourne. While Australia had entered World War II – located primarily in Europe and Africa – in 1939,
3366-447: The side, which was often in contention for the wooden spoon . Essendon did manage to make the 1968 VFL Grand Final , but it lost to Carlton by just three points and did not make it back to the big stage for a 15 years. During the period from 1968 until 1980, five different coaches were tried, with none lasting longer than four years. Off the field, the club went through troubled times as well. In 1970, five players went on strike before
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#17330929280003432-468: The then highest score in VFL history. In 1988, Essendon made a rebound to sixth place with twelve wins, including a 140-point thrashing of Brisbane where they had a record sixteen individual goalkickers. In 1989, they rebounded further to second on the ladder with only five losses and thrashed Geelong in the Qualifying Final. However, after a fiery encounter with Hawthorn ended in a convincing defeat,
3498-457: The third quarter to set up victory by 11 points. Essendon slumped to 8th in 1952 , but Coleman was in blistering form, managing 103 goals for the year. Hugh Buggy noted in The Argus : "It was the wettest season for twenty-two years and Coleman showed that since the war he was without peer in the art of goal kicking." Two seasons later, Coleman's career was ended after he dislocated a knee during
3564-539: The top four clubs after the home-and-away season played a round-robin to determine the premiers. Essendon, having previously defeated both Fitzroy (by 40 points) and South Melbourne (by 33 points), clinched the premiership by means of a 20-point loss to Richmond. With the Tigers having already lost a match to Fitzroy by a substantial margin, the Dons were declared premiers by virtue of their superior percentage, meaning that Essendon again managed to win successive premierships. But
3630-562: The ultimate margin of 17 points suggested. In the grand final, Essendon were pitted against Carlton and in a match that was a total travesty as a contest they overwhelmed the Blues to the tune of 73 points, 18.17 (125) to 6.16 (52). Best for the Dons included pacy aboriginal half-back flanker Norm McDonald , ruckman Bob McLure , and rovers Bill Hutchinson and Ron McEwin . John Coleman also did well, registering six goals. A year later, in 1950 , Essendon were—if anything—even more dominant, defeating
3696-499: The ultimate prize in Australian football. As so often is the case after a flag, the following two years were below standard. A further premiership in 1965 (won from 4th position on the ladder) was also unexpected due to periods of poor form during the 1965 season . The Bombers were a different club when the finals came around, but some of the credit for the improvement was given to the influence of Brian Sampson and Ted Fordham during
3762-461: Was a fair (or even lenient) sentence, he took his case to the supreme court, gathering even more unwanted publicity for the club. Despite this, the club had recruited many talented young players in the late 1970s who emerged as club greats. Three of those young players were Simon Madden , Tim Watson and Paul Van Der Haar . Terry Daniher and his brother Neale came via a trade with South Melbourne , and Roger Merrett joined soon afterwards to form
3828-889: Was born in Melbourne on 7 May 1856. His brother John (1853-1879) became Essendon's first team captain, and his cousin Coiler McCracken (1848-1915), became Essendon's second captain. Alexander McCracken married Mary Elizabeth (1863-1938), a daughter of John Murray Peck — co-founder of Cobb and Co , and vice-president of the Essendon Football Club from 1898 to 1905 — on 19 July 1884. The has two sons, and three daughters: Alec Lindsay McCracken (1885-1959), Joy Margaret Louisa McCracken (1886-1945), Murray Robert McCracken (1888-1964), Jean Mary McCracken (1890-1983), and Madge Huntington McCracken (1891-1967). He attended Melbourne's Scotch College in East Melbourne from 1869 to 1871. He
3894-497: Was looking for a new home. It was offered grounds at the current Royal Melbourne Showgrounds , Ascot Vale ; at Victoria Park , Melbourne; at Arden St, North Melbourne ; and the Essendon Cricket Ground. The Essendon City Council offered the (VFL) team the Essendon Cricket Ground, announcing that it would be prepared to spend over £12,000 ($ 1,009,066 in 2021 terms, according to the Retail Price Index ) on improvements, including
3960-477: Was not without controversy, however, with rumours of numerous players accepting bribes. Regardless of the accuracy of these allegations, the club's image was tarnished, and the side experienced its lowest period during the decade that followed, with poor results on the field and decreased support off it. There was worse to follow, with various Essendon players publicly blaming each other for a poor performance against Richmond , and then, with dissension still rife in
4026-408: Was one of Essendon's most famous sides, dubbed the "Mosquito Fleet" due to the number of small, very fast players in the side. Six players were 5'6" (167 cm) or smaller. In the 1924 season , for the first time since their inaugural premiership in 1897, there was no ultimate match to decide the league's champion team – either "Challenge Final" or "Grand Final" – to determine the premiers; instead,
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#17330929280004092-484: Was only 22 was seen as providing considerable cause for optimism. However, it was to take another three years, and a change of coach, before the team's obvious potential was translated into tangible success. John Coleman started his coaching career at Essendon in 1961 , thus ending the Dick Reynolds era at the club. In the same year, Essendon finished the season mid-table, and supporters were not expecting too much for
4158-474: Was somewhat of a surprise, for it was expected that Mr M'Cracken would run him much more closely than he did. [At the declaration of the poll] Mr Deakin's majority of nearly 2 to 1 was received with loud cheering." ( The Argus , 21 September 1894) — McCracken did not attempt to enter politics ever again. The Essendon football Club was refused the use of Windy Hill and played its first few seasons (probably near Filson St) on Robert McCracken's "Ailsa". He built
4224-411: Was the head of McCracken Brewery , until May 1907 when the company, along with five other brewing firms, was merged into Carlton & United Breweries Limited . He was appointed a Director of the new company. Alex McCracken played a number of times for the Essendon Football Club in the four pre-VFA years (1873-1876) with his brother, John, and his cousin, Coiler, and also in the club's first season in
4290-539: Was the team's first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton Second Twenty (the reserves ) on 7 June 1873, with Essendon winning by one goal. Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the inaugural junior members of the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1877, and it began competing as
4356-479: Was when Graham Moss won the 1976 Brownlow Medal ; he was the only Bomber to do so in a 40-year span from 1953 to 1993. Even that was bittersweet, as he quit VFL football to move back to his native Western Australia, where Moss finished out his career as a player and coach at Claremont Football Club . In many ways, Moss's career reflects Essendon's mixed fortunes during the decade. Former Richmond player Kevin Sheedy started as head coach in 1981. Essendon reached
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