My wife couldn’t stop laughing at some of Harv’s clobber. He definitely had the surfer wannabe look down pat 
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As good as it was to win a flag, the '93 Prelim remains my favourite football memory. We were sat high up on the top deck of the old Northern Stand, in front of a busload of Adelaide fans who gave us crap throughout the first half. We had a mate with us who at half-time was convinced we were still in with a shot. We just couldn’t see it at 42 points down. We’d need to kick 10-ish goals and keep them to a bare handful, when we’d only managed 6 to half-time. And we’d played terribly…
He has been known forever after as The Oracle (there is only one… and it’s not the imposter that shows up on here!)
The cheers in that last quarter are the loudest I’ve ever heard at the football.
I have the semi, prelim and GF on a commercially-released VHS 3-pack. Whenever I watch the prelim I have to watch the whole game, just to be reminded how phenomenal that comeback really was…
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I remember Harvs warming up for the ‘85 GF in full double denim !!
IIRC was an acid washed jacket & stretch jeans
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Then there’s the haircuts he used to go with.
I remember 93 so clearly
Was living in the UK up north near Manchester at the time having spent most of early 90’s backpacking around the world & had to rely on a magazine sent up to me from London that was kind of a monthly news / sports rag from Down Under / NZ
Read all about young kids like Hirdy / Mercs / Joe & Fletch who were playing some great footy for the Bombers
When I called home to find out if we’d beaten the Crows to make the GF, I immediately booked a flight back to Sydney then hopped on the overnight train (Southern Aurora?) to Melbourne & got to the MCG early on GF day
Naively thought I’d score a ticket from a scalper into the game as had done so in both 84 + 85 + 90 but it wasn’t looking good
I spent all day walking around the G holding a sign begging for one ticket.
About 20mins before the bounce I’d pretty much given up & started walking over towards the Royal (can’t remember if it had the same appeal back then 
) and a tall guy stopped me in the car park. He said “hey mate I’ve got a ticket you can have for $50 except you’ll have to sit next to my girlfriend & her mates in the new southern stand cos I’ll be in the Members bar”
I looked up and got the shock of my life – it was Vanda !!
Me & his missus + her 2 (quite hot) girlfriends went in shouts all day & celebrated probably the best Essendon flag I’ve experienced so far this lifetime
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Poignant to see Bomber up there all smiles with the cup.
What a great story 
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The doco was a reminder for me just how friggin good Paul Salmon was.
It’s funny, when you think of Essendon champs, you think of Daniher / Madden / Watson, and then the next decade you think Wanga / Mercs/ Hird / Fletcher, and then onto Lloydy and Lucas.
The big Fish often gets forgotten in the conversation, and he shouldn’t.
In 1993, he should have been playing ruck as per the Madden-handover, but if he had, we wouldn’t have won the flag imo. It was very much a key forward’s game at that stage, and he carried our forward line all year. 65 goals didn’t compare with the absolute guns of the era, but it was 65 goals we wouldn’t have found elsewhere.
He kicked 5 in the GF (on the full back of the century) that year, just as he did in 1985. And in the tragedy of 1990, he was the only one firing shots.
Big game player was Fish.
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Pretty sure that the Hawks brought O’Halloran into the side for his 1st game of the year in the '85 GF.
He was only 6 feet tall and completely out of his depth against Fish.
In the 1990 GF, after Salmon came over the top of Kelly to mark and goal early in the game to kick his 2nd, everyone at the ground (even Coll fans) must have been thinking he would dominate the game.
Incredible and depressing that we would only add a further 3 goals from that point on !
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Yep, his first game of the year. IIRC he previous game was the 1984 GF. He was a bit taller than 6 feet, but he couldn’t hold down the # 1 ruck spot against Madden. Dawks lost that game at the selection table.
Caught up with this doco last night, and did warm the heart. Some great stories and background. In 1993 l had left Oz and was travelling around SEA. I didn’t catch up with our progress until l got to Bangkok and listened to half a game on Radio Australia. At the end of the game there was some announcement about how the win had put us a game clear on top of the ladder, a complete surprise to me. Then l took off to Vietnam for a month of travel. When l got back to Bangers, friends took me to a n apartment where someone had a live satellite feed of the GF. So l had missed the dramatics of the PF win over the Crows, and didn’t catch up with that game until years later, but l digress.
Anyway because of the traffic in Bangers, we missed the first quarter. l was ■■■■■■ by the end of the game, and my feet never touched the ground. A mate took me out on the town to celebrate. Down in Patpong l ran into an ex-student. She was returning from Japan where she had been working as a hostess in a bar. She joked that she wouldn’t tell anyone l was looking for a girl for the night. l replied in turn that l wouldn’t tell anyone he was there looking for a job. Good times.
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Are you getting confused Jack, and thinking about Paton ?
Interesting. I have no knowledge of the 85 season (I was only 4) but I know every single word of commentary from that Grand Final.
Used to watch 84/85 back to back every school holidays.
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Could be.
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Everyone, including the Fish, says he’d kicked 7 points before his winning goal against WCE. He’d kicked 3…he kicked 1.7 against fark Carlton a week or two before. If you listen to the commentary, they say he’d kicked 3 points…but at least two of them were sodas…much like the 2 sodas he missed early in the 3rd in the ‘95 first semi that would have put us 7 goals up. I believe Harves threatened violence that day too. Was his last game in that stint.
How can you not go to the 3qtr time huddle? Derek Kickett dug his own grave.
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Did Derek ever play against us after he joined the Swans in ‘94?
Watch the night Essendon game vs Collingwood from 93, it’s on youtube in full, he’s absolutely dominant playing in the ruck pushing forward
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Thank fark we didn’t cop North in a final.
Thank you West Coast.
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North were dropping right away at the end of the season. First year of Pagan.