The Red & Black Project

Relive Dan Eddy's 2019 chat with Bomber number 757, Geoff Blethyn, which originally aired on Essendon's 'Fabric of the Essendon Football Club' podcast series celebrating the club's 150-year anniversary in 2022. A local product from the Essendon district, Geoff Blethyn honed his goalkicking craft in a paddock at the back of the family home. Today, that paddock has been paved over & is now part of the Tullamarine freeway! After just two brief appearances at senior level, the 17-year-o...

Relive Dan Eddy's 2019 chat with Bomber number 849, Tim Watson, which originally aired on Essendon's 'Fabric of the Essendon Football Club' podcast series celebrating the club's 150-year anniversary in 2022. Recruited from Dimboola, in Essendon's country zone in the Wimmera, Tim Watson made his debut as a 15-year-old in 1977, the start of one of the finest careers in Essendon's history. Between '77 and 1991, Watson played 282 games, kicked 307 goals, won two day premierships (1984-85) a...

The younger generation will know him as the father of Essendon's games record holder, Dustin Fletcher, but those who watched the Bombers throughout the 1970s will have good memories of the long-sleeved Ken Fletcher running up and down the wing at Windy Hill in the number 21 guernsey. Certainly, there were times during Dustin's long career where, in certain poses and movements, he looked eerily similar to his father. Between them, father and son played a V/AFL record 664 games (400 for Dustin,...

The son of dual Essendon premiership player, Jack Cassin (1936-44 & 1946-47, 150 games), young John was recruited to Windy Hill, from Colac, under the father-son rule. He played 51 games for the Bombers (1971-74), won the club's Best First-Year Player award (1971) and Best Utility (1972), and was smack-bang in the middle of the infamous Windy Hill Brawl, against Richmond, in 1974. After a falling out with coach Des Tuddenham, Cassin played two years at South Australian club West Torrens (...

Relive Dan Eddy's 2020 chat with Bomber number 960, Gavin Wanganeen, which originally aired on Essendon's 'Fabric of the Essendon Football Club' podcast series celebrating the club's 150-year anniversary in 2022. Gavin Wanganeen only played six of his 16 AFL seasons at Essendon, yet such was his remarkable impact he remains one of the most popular players ever to wear the red and black guernsey. Recruited from South Australia with pick 12 in the 1989 National Draft, he played in Port Ad...