Is there an E.F.C. historian in the house?

Wow so you’re saying we got an opposition coach - albeit a former player - to join our coaching setup for the finals. That’s amazing. Very innovative.

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Interesting how that none of our premiership coaches stops at one flag! Hope we continue that trend and our next one is not too far off. :wink:

So we should be looking fo a bloke who has played premierships, extra points for having been a captain, possibly ex-dons. Do we need G.O’D at the club?

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That would be Hird or Thompson.

Maybe skip the captain part and go with Cara?

Haven’t we tried those first two already?

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I feel like i’d remember that.

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Yes!!! The record is complete, Thanks to those who helped fill in the gaps. I even found that D. Reynolds coached us in the war year 1942, making him a four time premiership coach like Kevin Sheedy! (see wikipedia link below).

Maybe we could get their DNA and scour every coaching possibility in Australia for the closest match! :rofl:
Hey, it’s a thought!

1897 Formative years, no coach (as such) just advisers to the captain George Stuckey who also coached (thanks DJR and percebushby)
1901 Formative years, no coach (as such) just advisers to the captain George Collins who also coached (thanks DJR and percebushby)
1911 Jack Worrall
1912 Jack Worrall
1923 Sid Barker
1924 Sid Barker
1942 D, Reynolds
1946 D. Reynolds (Thanks Bullwinkle)
1949 D. Reynolds
1950 D. Reynolds
1962 John Coleman
1965 John Coleman
1984 Kevin Sheedy
1985 Kevin Sheedy
1993 Kevin Sheedy
2000 Kevin Sheedy

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All the premierhips, including teams, best players, goal kickers, coaches etc are on the EFC website under club/histor/premierships

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Do they match our exquisite accuracy? :rofl:

You expect people on Blitz to trust the official Club line on anything at the moment?

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I just have to check it out now :slight_smile:

Well done, 19thman, their record and the edited record here match exactly. Thanks. :slightly_smiling_face:

Flying Higher lists Smith as almost the coach in 1908-1909 and Belcher as almost the coach in 1910.

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Until very recently the game of Australian Rules has had many examples of captain-coaches, men who fulfilled both rôles.

Our last captain-coach was Ðick Reynolds; he fulfilled the dual rôle in all four of his premiership wins. He was non-playing coach for the first time in 1951 and, owing to a list depleted by injuries, came on as 20th man in the losing GF of 1951.

Before Ðick, as the table above shows, we had the great Sid Barker who came to us from Norf and also played as captain-coach, leader of the Mosquito Fleet. The demise of the Mosquito Fleet (which was no reflection on Barker) was brought about by the first major scandal to envelop the EFC.

Jack Worrall (TWO Ls please !), who came to Essendon at the age of 50 iirc, was a coach straight-out. He was a Test cricketer as well as an Australian Rules champion player and coach and came to us from a a coaching stint at FCFC. In his playing career with Fitzroy he had been the out-and-out star of that club. Worrall was a spiky character. He had numerous battles with the Australian cricket authorities. Injured in 1892, he retired as a footballer and concentrated on Cricket. In 1902 he joined the ailing FCFC as “Secretary”. He completely revolutionised FCFC during his tenure, and won three VFL flags there in 1906, 1907 and 1908. Worrall’s stint as coach at FCFC before he came to Essendon has gained him recognition as the first nonplaying coach in Australian Rules. He was the subject of a player revolt at FCFC in 1909, and left the club. The next year, 1910, he was employed as umpires’ coach… Then Essendon poached him to coach the Club in 1911, and he immediately won the VFL Flag for Essendon, two years in a row !

By the way, the Captains who led the Essendon premiership sides on the paddock under Worrall as coach were: 1911, Alan Belcher and 1912, David Smith.

Before Worrall came to Essendon, the coaching responsibilities rested firmly with the Captain of the Club. Thus, it is incorrect to say that we had “No coach, just team assistants” in our earlier premierships. Just as with Sid Barker and Ðick Reynolds in later years, the captains were the coaches.

Another matter which gives me the pinks is the refusal by many Essendon members to give credit for the premierships we won in the old VFA, directly before the formation of the VFL. The AFL grew out of the VFL. The VFL grew out of the old VFA. If you add our VFL premierships to our AFL premierships for a total of 16, why can we not add in our four VFA Premierships, to make a grand total of 20 Premierships — more than anyone else (including FCFC). Also, those 4 VFA Premierships were won in four consecutive years (1891-94) — a feat which the Collywobbles equalled in the 1930s, but never bettered.

Thus the following should be added to the list:

1891 Alick Ðick
1892 Alick Ðick
1893 Alick Ðick
1894 Alick Ðick
1897 George Stuckey
1901 George “Tod” Collins

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Thanks perce, I’ll make the necessary corrections.
No offence but not sold on the idea of including the VFA premierships, hope you understand.

Maybe we need a richmond back pocket who played in a premiership and over 200 games - Bachar Houli next EFC premiership coach :slight_smile:

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Do you reckon he would have Sheedy’s imagination, personality and daring?

How about also a Brownlow Medalist? James Hird fit the EFC successful Coaching bill to the Letter, & I have no doubt would have taken us back to the Promised Land and won more than a Single Flag, just like his predecessors, … if not for FatVlad and his diabolical cadre of villainous slimeballs.

Fark them all!! May they burn in Hell for what they did.

Sigh… :confused:

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Agree, but that bridge has been burned and carried away in a flood of supporter tears.

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Jack Baggot preceded Reynolds. Came from Richmond, brought Hird from Hawthorn and some others ( without clearances, some dramas and dark ops there, some may have played under false names).
Essendon’s glory year was 1950, premierships for firsts, seconds ( Hird captain coach of seconds) and thirds.

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