22 years. No finals wins. No premiership challenge. So how did Essendon get here?
On September 4, 2004, Essendon defeated Melbourne by five points in an elimination final at the MCG. It remains the last time the Bombers have won a game in September.
With Essendon now entering another rebuild under Mark McVeigh, this is an attempt to explain how the club went from the powerhouse of the 1990s to more than two decades of frustration — and, more importantly, what needs to change.
There isn't one person to blame. There isn't one decision that explains everything. Across the past quarter of a century there have been poor decisions, missed opportunities, bad timing and plenty of bad luck.
But there is one recurring theme:
Impatience.
Every time Essendon appeared to be getting back on its feet, the club seemed to make a decision designed to accelerate the process. Sometimes those decisions were understandable. Some even appeared to work initially. But time and again, the shortcuts ultimately pushed the Bombers backwards.
We look at the major turning points across the past 25 years, including:
🔴 The luck that helped build the 1990s powerhouse
⚫ How stagnation after 2000 contributed to the club's decline
🔴 The drafting failures of the early 2000s
⚫ The Matthew Knights era
🔴 The decision to appoint James Hird
⚫ The Essendon supplements saga and its enormous consequences
🔴 The post-Saga rebuild under John Worsfold
⚫ The trades for Smith, Saad, Stringer and Dylan Shiel
🔴 The loss of Joe Daniher, Adam Saad and Orazio Fantasia
⚫ The impact of COVID and the 2020 draft
🔴 The decline and rebuilding of the VFL program
⚫ The Rutten/Worsfold succession
🔴 The Brad Scott era and the decision to finally embrace the draft
⚫ What went wrong — and what actually went right — under Scott
🔴 And finally, the enormous challenge facing Mark McVeigh
The key lesson isn't that Essendon needs another saviour.
It needs patience.
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