This Friday the brilliant new Bomberland website will be launched. One of the fantastic new features of the site will be a Weekly Poll which will give Bomber fans the chance to tell us what they think. And our first poll this Friday is sure to create plenty of interest. Just who is the best coach the Bombers have ever had? This week we will profile the four names that have been nominated and you can make your choice on Friday when the new site goes live. Today we preview King Richard - the great Dick Reynolds.

Dick Reynolds is one of the absolute greats of the game having played 320 games between 1933 and 1951. He won three Brownlow Medals and was a simply outstanding on-baller. But while the exploits of Reynolds the player are often talked about, his record as a coach can ocassionally be overlooked.

Dick Reynolds coached the Bombers from 1939 through until 1960 and in that time took the Bombers to four premierships. Reynolds inherited a side that hadn't won a premiership since 1924, a side that hadn't finished higher than sixth in the preceding decade.

But under the guidance of Reynolds, the Bombers soon became a power of the VFL. In his first full year as coach in 1940 Reynolds took the Bombers to third place and just two years later collected his first premiership as coach. He repeated the feat in 1946. In 1949 and 1950, Reynolds' side was at its peak and it did what few sides have managed in the history of the game and won back-to-back premierships.

Reynolds coached the Bombers in 415 games and won an amazing 275 of them - a winning percentage of 67% - the best of any Essendon coach who has spent more than 50 games at the helm. Reynolds also coached Victoria in 1959.

Probably the most amazing fact about Dick Reynolds is that all four premierships were won with him as a playing coach. To win one premiership as captain-coach was considered hard enough - to do it four times was astounding.

After 22 seasons at the helm, Reynolds retired from coaching. His legacy was a football club that was now stamped as one of the great clubs of the VFL. As of now, no coach has guided the Bombers for more consecutive seasons. Only Kevin Sheedy has coached more games. Dick Reynolds was a brilliant coach and is the first nomination in the new weekly poll. If you think Dick Reynolds is the Bombers' best ever coach you can vote this Friday.

The poll will remain open until early next week when we will report back on just who the Bomber fans think is the club's greatest ever coach. Keep an eye out tomorrow for the second nomination in our inaugural poll.