Editing Essendon Football Club (section)

=== Post-Reynolds era and the "Slugging Seventies" (1961–1980) ===
John Coleman started his coaching career at Essendon in [[1961 VFL season|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 the following season. However, the club blitzed the opposition in [[1962 VFL season|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 VFL Grand Final|1962 Premiership]] by 32 points. This was a remarkable result for Coleman, who, in just his second season of coaching, claimed 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 VFL Grand Final|1965]] (won from 4th position on the ladder) was also unexpected due to periods of poor form during the [[1965 VFL season|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 (footballer)|Brian Sampson]] and [[Ted Fordham]] during 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 VFL season|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 the side, which was often in contention for the [[wooden spoon (award)|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, [[Don McKenzie (footballer, born 1939)#Dispute over player payments|five players went on strike]] before the season even began, demanding higher payments. Essendon did make the finals in [[1972 VFL season|1972]] and [[1973 VFL season|1973]] under the autocratic direction of [[Des Tuddenham]] (Collingwood), but they were beaten badly in successive elimination finals by [[St Kilda Football Club|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 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 (footballer)|Barry Davis]], [[Ken Fletcher (Australian footballer)|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 the era. Following the Carlton match, the ''[[The Herald (Melbourne)|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 VFL season|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 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 Daniher|Neale]] came via a trade with [[South Melbourne Swans|South Melbourne]], and [[Roger Merrett]] joined soon afterwards to form 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 VFL season|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 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.