Where every Richmond and Essendon player from the first Dreamtime at the ‘G match in 2005 is now, 20 years on

It started as a Kevin Sheedy brainwave one rainy Saturday afternoon in July, 2005. 20 years on from the first ever Dreamtime at the ‘G, where are the Tigers and Bombers who were a part of it?

Essendon's Nathan Lovett-Murray, Dean Rioli and Andrew Lovett and Richmond's Richard Tambling and Andrew Krakouer with the Aboriginal flag to promote the NAIDOC Dreamtime at the 'G match.

Dreamtime at the ‘G has become one of the great occasions on the AFL calendar celebrating the contribution of First Nations people to footy.

What started as another Kevin Sheedy brainwave when he noticed the match between his Bombers and the Tigers landed in NAIDOC Week has taken on great cultural significance, spawned a whole round and encouraged similar celebrations across all levels of the game.

Sheedy, the great showman, said at the time it was a dream to stage the match.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said in the lead-up.

Matthew Richardson celebrates a goal with Andrew Krakouer. Richmond v Essendon. MCG.

“It’s a great synergy between black and gold and black and red. When you take the sashes of both clubs, there is a real connection and similarity to the Aboriginal flag.’’

But rather than the Saturday night in May marking Reconciliation Week that the match has become, the first Dreamtime game was on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon in July.

Having led all day, Richmond cruised to a 26 point victory with Andrew Krakouer and Mark Coughlan the stars.

There were no bespoke jumper designs from Indigenous artists in the first year - that wouldn’t become a thing until 2011. Even an alternative AFL logo wouldn’t appear until 2006.

Both teams featured multiple Indigenous players. Richmond featured Andrew Krakouer and Richard Tambling. The Bombers had Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Justin Murphy and Dean Rioli.

Richmond hold the advantage with 12 wins to Essendon’s eighth.

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the first Dreamtime at the ‘G, we take a look back at where the Bombers and Tigers from that first match are now.