At the start of 1991, the family club were coming off a season where they had failed to continue in the family tradition, eliminated by Melbourne the previous September to miss their first Grand Final since 1982 - unable to complete a three-peat. As odd as it sounds, their failure to make it to the big one in 1990 sent the club into a tailspin. They had been called too old and too slow in the past – maybe, just maybe, it was now true? When the West Coast Eagles, the new kids on the block, towelled them up at home early into the new campaign alarm bells sounded once more.

But sure enough, Michael Tuck’s side got on a roll to finish in second spot on the ladder. Their next mission: a trip across the Nullarbor to take on Mick Malthouse’s hotshots to start one of the most anticipated finals series ever held. All the experience of the battled-hardened Hawks was on display through the month that matters most, overcoming West Coast at Subiaco then just reaching the finish line against Geelong a week later to earn a berth in the Grand Final at VFL Park. The Eagles were now on their territory for the decider.

Gary Ayres knows more than most about saving the best for last Saturday in September, twice winning the Norm Smith Medal as best afield in the 1986 and 1988 Grand Finals. By 1991, he was the vice-captain at Glenferrie, hunting his fifth premiership. The man they called Conan joins The Greatest Season That Was to take us into the inner sanctum of one of the most decorated and celebrated football team ever assembled. This is Bound for Glory. 

The Greatest Season That Was Presents is part of The Bad Producer Podcast Network.

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