Welcome to a special one-off episode of The Greatest Season That Was. 

When this podcast began, it was based on a very simple premise: that footy was never better than in season 1993. Needless to say, it’s a belief that remains strongly-held by all of us. But that doesn’t mean it was the greatest Grand Final ever played. For that, we go back four years. It’s widely accepted by the best judges that the 1989 decider was truly something else. 

To mark the 30th anniversary of the match that had it all, friend of the show, Tony Wilson, decided to write the definitive account of it. The result is a brilliant new book, 1989 The Great Grand Final. It was that season when Tony formally joined Hawthorn as a player in the Under 19s. The son of 1971 premiership hero Ray Wilson, he knows every inch of the family club and devoted countless hours to interviewing many of Allan Jeans’ back-to-back victors from that momentous day.

But this isn’t Hawks Hagiography. Anything but. As Tony details in our conversation, he knew how important it was to capture the essence of a stunning Geelong team under the stewardship of new coach Malcolm Blight with a man they called God standing at full forward. So set back and settle in as we revisit a game of football we’ll never stop watching and we’ll never stop talking about.

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

Produced by Jay Mueller. Editing assistance by Dave Collins.