As Kevin Sheedy walked around the boundary line, dodging marshmallows, he knew what he needed.

North Melbourne had just been eliminated Essendon from the 1998 finals series.

Sheedy wanted to introduce a little more steel into his side and he had some suitable candidates available to him.

An 18 year old Dean Solomon had a taste of senior football that season, while Mark Johnson had been playing in the reserves.

By early 1999 both were integral members of the Essendon defence.

“They wanted a little bit more grunt and rough players that could play with a little bit of grunt in them through the midfield and the backline,” Johnson told Bomber Radio.

“That’s where myself and Dean Solomon got an opportunity and we had ‘Wally’ (Dean Wallis) in the backline as well and Damien Hardwick – blokes who really bolstered what was forming to be a really good side.”

Dustin Fletcher and Sean Wellman joined Johnson, Wallis, Hardwick and Solomon in defence.

Together the would form the toughest and tightest defence in the competition.  In 2000, Essendon conceded 200 points less than any other opposition.

As Sheedy oversaw the big picture, Robert Shaw took control of the midfield and Terry Daniher the forward line – Mark Harvey, a favourite son and premiership player – was in charge of the backline.

Harvey and Johnson got along, they understood and respected each other.

“Taking the number one (jumper), being a backline player and we’re both not quite right in the head so we got along really well,” Johnson joked.

“He was our coach of the ‘chain gang’ which was our backline.

“You could tell he cared and I think from a Coach that’s all you need.

“I was lucky enough that all of my coaches had that element to them – whether they openly showed it or not – there was always elements in every single one, that they genuinely cared for you.

“Harves took particular interest in me – he was number one, I was number one, he was from basically half way to where I was from, he was kind of a ‘rat’ and I was a bit of a ‘rat’.

“We’ve both developed ourselves and become better people through the Essendon Football Club.”

The Bombers were top of the ladder after round one in 2000 and they stayed there for the remainder of the season.

The side dropped only one game and on only one occasion did the opposition score 100 points, and even then Essendon still won by more the six goals.

In its most dominant year, a defender – Dustin Fletcher – won the best and fairest.

Johnson – a best and fairest winner himself two years later - said the cohesion among the defence was what made them such a strong team within a team.

“It wasn’t so much a talking thing, it was that we’d played so much footy together that we had a really good understanding and feel for what each other would do in any position,” he said.

“If the ball was coming in high you knew what Fletch was going to do, he would know that I’m going to be somewhere.

“It was just this unsaid thing, it was more of a ‘feel’… and how you worked as a team, it was more a relationship thing."

The back six were close.  Close to their opponent.  And close to each other.