Dick Reynolds was one of Australian Rules football’s finest ever contributors, yet he has rarely featured in the corpus of literature on the history of the game. At the height of his fame he was compared with Australia’s finest sportsman of the era, Don Bradman, and he also drew comparisons with the celebrated racehorse, Phar Lap. This thesis provides an understanding of the role Reynolds played during two significant periods of stress and upheaval, namely the Great Depression and Second World War. By focusing on the role of an individual, and the different ways in which he was perceived, the thesis provides insight into both the trajectory of a noteworthy Australian Rules football career, along with the district that supported it, and the opportunities, esteem, expectations and pressures placed on a champion footballer. Later expanded and published as King Richard: The Story of Dick Reynolds, Essendon Legend, Slattery Media, Richmond, 2014.

Review by Rob Hess.