The 2004 Elimination Final against Melbourne, the Dons’ last finals win – September 4, 2004.

It was 20 years ago today, Sergeant Sheedy told the Dons to play.

A moment in history that is older than Harley Reid.

Some fun facts about the leadup to the game:

The MCG was only half redeveloped as part of the Northern Stand redevelopment for the Commonwealth Games… the current MCC Members Stand was only half-finished, and the 1968 Olympic Stand was still upright.

Neale Daniher’s Melbourne, who hadn’t won a minor premiership or a premiership since 1964, were on top of the AFL ladder after Round 18, ahead of the likes of the Threepeat Brisbane Lions, the home & away specialists Port Adelaide under Mark Williams, and a St Kilda team who started the season 10-0 and released a DVD to celebrate.

However, the Demons lost their last 4 games and slipped to 5th.

On the other hand, Kevin Sheedy’s Essendon were in the Top 4 after Round 11 (The Line in the Sand game against Hawthorn), then lost 7 out of 10 games to sit in 9th after Round 21, one of those defeats being against Melbourne in Round 13, their first defeat to the Demons in 5 years…

Thankfully for the Bombers, Fremantle managed to lose their last 4 games and cock up a Top 8 spot (Sounds familiar), so the Bombers defeating the Western Bulldogs on the Sunday of Round 22 got them into 8th spot.

That set up the Elimination Final on the Saturday afternoon, a rematch of the 2000 Grand Final, which was also Essendon’s first Final at the MCG since losing the 2001 Grand Final to Brisbane, and the Bombers raced out and led by 31 points at half time with Matthew Lloyd kicking 4 goals to the half…

The Demons proceeded to raise hell in the 3rd Quarter, kicking 7 goals to none to snatch the lead by 8 points at the last break, but after Lloyd’s famous grass-tossing radar went haywire and he kicked 4 consecutive behinds, ruckman David Hille went forward and kicked 3 goals in the last quarter, the last of which was a toepoke off the ground with 5:30 to play that put the Bombers ahead for good.

Eventually, the siren sounded with the ball in captain James Hird’s hands as the Bombers held on to win by 5 points, the first final decided by under a goal in 3 years (The 2001 Semi Final between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn), as the Bombers made it 6 consecutive years winning a final, matching the run they had under Dick Reynolds from 1946 to 1951.

Essendon went on to lose the Semi Final against Geelong the following Saturday, and when combined with the Bombers have losing all 6 Elimination Finals they have contested in the 20 years since (2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021), gives them the longest active Finals losing streak at 7 games, which also equals the all-time record for consecutive Finals lost (Geelong lost 7 from 1901 to 1925, Collingwood lost 7 from 1904 to 1909, and South Melbourne/Sydney lost all 7 finals from the Bloodbath Grand Final of 1945 until the 1987 Semi Final).

Since the Moon Landing in 1969, Kevin Sheedy is still the only Essendon coach to coach the Bombers to a Finals win.

On the other side, Melbourne appeared in the ’05 and ’06 finals, then missed the finals for 12 consecutive seasons, in which time they fielded some of the worst AFL teams of the modern era (Wooden Spoons in 2008-09, plus the 2012-13 teams), lost a game by 186 points, were investigated for tanking by the AFL, had several club heroes pass away (Jim Stynes, Robbie Flower)…

And have gone on to win a final, a minor premiership and a premiership more recently than Essendon have won a final.

In fact, in the time since 2004, Melbourne also founded a women’s team who have won a premiership more recently than Essendon have won a final.

Another sad fact of this game was that it was Troy Broadridge’s last AFL game, as he later became a victim of the Boxing Day Tsunami while on honeymoon in Thailand with his wife Trish, becoming the first AFL player to die during their playing career since Darren Millane’s car accident in 1991.

Thankfully, Trish survived and was later named Young Australian of the Year in 2006, also becoming the current CEO of AFL Queensland, while Troy’s body was recovered and identified – The Demons’ first game of 2005 was against Essendon, and the Demons delivered a rousing tribute to their late teammate.

Broadridge was also mentioned by Max Gawn during his captain’s speech after the 2021 Grand Final victory, alongside Dean Bailey and Jim Stynes.