Everything about Essendon's 2000 AFL premiership team said "dynasty".
No-one could have foreseen the succession of barren Septembers that would follow.
Provided they do not slip up against Fremantle - not out of the question, given their round-15 disaster against Brisbane - the Bombers will return to the finals.
They are eighth and control their own destiny.
It will be Essendon's first finals series since 2014 and only their third September appearance in the last decade.
Much will be made of how much it will mean to Essendon, given their turnaround from the supplements debacle.
But the disastrous 2011-12 supplements program was itself a direct function of their slumping finals performances over the previous decade.
In 2000, Essendon lost only one game on the way to their 16th and most recent premiership.
The next season, Leigh Matthews awoke Brisbane with his famous "if it bleeds, we can kill it" challenge and the Lions beat Essendon in the grand final.
Brisbane, not Essendon, would have a dynasty.
The Bombers made the next three finals, but clearly were in decline.
Kevin Sheedy's legendary reign as coach ended in 2007 and replacement Matthew Knights led Essendon to the finals only once - a 96-point hammering from Adelaide in 2009.
Knights was gone at the end of 2010, James Hird took over and what happened next became the biggest scandal in AFL history.
Essendon made the 2013 finals, but were thrown out as part of the AFL's punishment for the ill-fated supplements regime.
For a club renowned as one of the strongest in the AFL, Essendon's finals record over the past 16 years is winnow, not whale.
ESSENDON'S POOR FINALS RECORD SINCE THE 2000 FLAG
* 12 finals, five wins
* Most recent finals win in 2004 - four losses since
* Most recent finals appearance in 2014
* No preliminary final since 2001
* Thrown out of the 2013 finals series because of the supplements debacle.
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