While Melbourne Cup Day provided Melbourne's masses with a labor-free day last Tuesday, the latest instalments of 'The Bombers: Stories of a Great Club' continued to run down the straight unimpeded.
Although episodes 3 and 4 of theย 'Fox Sports' aired docuseries charted the Dons' lean years of the 70s and early-80s, the latest pair were bookended by premiership glory for the famous old club.
Having taken an outsider's view of the sterling stills, snippets and stories of the past fortnight, I've once again poured through the record books and pondered another set of questions that arose across the series' penultimate week.
So, before the final set of chapters are aired and completed next week, here are another 10 queries that cropped up from the recount of Essendon's most recent golden age.
What would you give for a modern reprisal of โthe shootout'?
With average scores sitting just above 70-points per game between Rounds 13 to 16, the moves to raise the workload of scoreboard attendants throughout the AFL fell flat across the 2021 season.
Although there were outliers, the vast majority of these free-wheeling results that occurred across the league's 124th campaign arose during one-sided clashes.
As inaccuracy in front of goal and defensive mindsets have seemingly become the norm throughout the contemporary competition, the question must be asked, what exactly would you be willing to part with to watch a game that came complete with 78 scoring shots?
While the Round 6 contest between Essendon and Geelong took place at the MCG less than 30-years ago, the 42-goal game in 1993 may as well have been played in another lifetime.
Without completely dissecting the game's narrative, this massive haul of majors came from the boots of 14 different players and were amassed at a rate of a goal every two-minutes and 51-seconds.
To put that in perspective, if you went to the toilet, bar and the hot dog stand while the Sherrin was live, you were running the risk of missing almost a week's worth of action in today's football.
If you need further proof of just how prolific the scoring was that May afternoon, both the Bombers and the Cats entered the half-time interval having scored more than the previously mentioned month-long average from this year.
Despite spending the vast majority of my sub-par football career trying to ruin forward's days, it may seem strange that I'm harping on about a game where every key defender seemed asleep.
But as someone that also witnessed their own AFL side score 10 or fewer goals per game on 10 occasions this season, I'm in dire need of a palate cleanser.
To answer my own question, I'd be willing to pay far more than twice the price of admission to see a game that provided more than twice the action.
While I don't think I could stomach seeing such an open game several times a week, when witnessing contemporary teams enter their three-quarter time huddles deadlocked at 50-apiece, or something equally as meagre, it's tough for the mind not to wander towards thoughts of uninhibited offense.
If you haven't had a chance to witness this scoring spectacle, free a few hours from your schedule and enjoy.
Make sure to keep an eye out for a pre-Brownlow James Hird trying his best to quell an undeniable Gary Ablett Snr.
