What just happened? The Shane Edwards freak show

These little clips show exactly why Edwards is overlooked by people who don’t watch Richmond regularly. A lot of great plays are set up with such a sleight of hand that you barely see it and only see the end result. Happens all the time even with commentary they’ll say wow how was Martin’s goal etc and not even notice Shedda initiating it.
Sometimes you have to rewind it he’s so bloody quick and sneaky.
 

6ixesAND7evens

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Can’t agree more with some of the posters on here. Some of the players the commentators fap on about don’t do half the work Shane Edwards does. It seems if it’s not “showy” or a visually appealing piece of play then it doesn’t get a mention. Actually in fairness as mentioned previously you can’t see half the stuff this bloke does.
 

YeOldTiger

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Geez, had no idea it was that long ago I signed up! Yep, never posted till today. Had kids and only just recovered! Don’t know how the lions thing got in there? Not to savvy with all the gimmickry! Tiger, thru and thru. Grew up going to all the local grounds waiting for my old man to nail a few cans so I could stand on them and see the game! Wouldn’t of got fed as a kid if didn’t follow the tigers! Will try and change the logo thing but it mite take me another 11 years!
After getting the bus down to Melbourne from Tyntynder footy club in Swan Hill I went to my first ever VFL game, the 1980 GF. I had a standing room ticket so I stood on four empty VB cans for most of the game. Back then the cans were made of steel so you could do it! I must have been 13. No way I would have let one of my kids do that trip these days lol. Anyway.

Shane Edwards. Wow. Just wow. Hope he plays til 35 like Silk.
 
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I think Shedda's greatest attribute is that he is almost always perfectly balanced.
When many other players want to dispose of the ball, they often aren't and therefore it takes a little bit longer for them to execute a good handball.
Shedda can give the same handballs in an instant, so he can take his time to make the right decision, and still be able to execute before the pressure comes. It means he can wait til just the right moment and then we're off. You see him dancing around opponents and then all of a sudden he's got the hands off and we're out.
 
Every now and then, not often you come across a player so sleight of hand, so efficient that you barely see it. They go through a career doing this so well that nobody even notices, no carry on from commentators like a Dusty or a Danger but just loved and appreciated by supporters and lovers of the game without the fanfare.
Usually this is for brilliant players who play an unfulfilled 80 odd game career but rarely one who plays over 200 games and in 2 premierships.
Just watching a replay of the prelim where Shedda nails Lambert in the last quarter followed by an amazing dummy and signature rocket handball out of the centre it made me think? Had there ever been a more under appreciated and underrated player by the media and footy fans not Richmond aligned?
His 2017 GF was off the charts for one and never got mentioned and 2019 was not far behind.
Can you think of a player similar at another club so good yet so unrecognized in your time? And what is your favorite Shedda game or moment not afforded the plaudits of others?
The guy is special.
Brilliant post. Even we overlooked him for years. Was watching a highlight he other day of in his debut season when Nick Vlastuin kicked his first goal v the Eagles i think it was. Watch who had the quick hands over the top to free Vlastuin up. Shedda

I suspect hes been doing it his whole career and nobody has barely noticed
 

Grrr

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There was one handball in 2017 that Shedda gave where he and his opponent hit front on and the ball looked like it spilled out from the collision and landed in Townsend's hands who wheeled around and kicked a goal. I said to my son that I bet Edwards meant that and he was adamant that I was seeing things. I replayed it over and over until you could actually see how quick Shedda's hands were to get it away. Even in slow mo as the bodies collided you could just pick it up. Best handballs ever.
 
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Brilliant post. Even we overlooked him for years. Was watching a highlight he other day of in his debut season when Nick Vlastuin kicked his first goal v the Eagles i think it was. Watch who had the quick hands over the top to free Vlastuin up. Shedda

I suspect hes been doing it his whole career and nobody has barely noticed
I think everyone is guilty of it at stages but a lot of it is just because how quick his hands are.
If you’re not really focused and just sort of watching casually you can miss a lot of his stuff.
Every now and then I’ll go to a game and just watch a player, it gives me a whole new appreciation and i did it with him a couple of years back I think it was a bulldogs game from memory and it blew me away.
Did it with Jack Graham once and it knocked my socks off as I defy anybody to push themselves to such extremes and then a game with young Baker this year and noticed a lot of his really clean stuff too that goes unnoticed.
But anyone should one day treat themselves and go to a game and just watch Shedda every single thing he does, watch the replay later on to see s**t you missed elsewhere. Well worth it.
 
I think everyone is guilty of it at stages but a lot of it is just because how quick his hands are.
If you’re not really focused and just sort of watching casually you can miss a lot of his stuff.
Every now and then I’ll go to a game and just watch a player, it gives me a whole new appreciation and i did it with him a couple of years back I think it was a bulldogs game from memory and it blew me away.
Did it with Jack Graham once and it knocked my socks off as I defy anybody to push themselves to such extremes and then a game with young Baker this year and noticed a lot of his really clean stuff too that goes unnoticed.
But anyone should one day treat themselves and go to a game and just watch Shedda every single thing he does, watch the replay later on to see s**t you missed elsewhere. Well worth it.
Yeah have watched all 3 finals again over the last few weeks. Its amazing how much you miss in the heat of it all. Shedda was outstanding in all 3 games.
 
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Brilliant post. Even we overlooked him for years. Was watching a highlight he other day of in his debut season when Nick Vlastuin kicked his first goal v the Eagles i think it was. Watch who had the quick hands over the top to free Vlastuin up. Shedda

I suspect hes been doing it his whole career and nobody has barely noticed

Gonna toot my horn but i noticed that one ;)

To be fair Hounddd noticed it too

Brett Deledio's 12 second goal against the Bullies in round 3

Edwards handball to Vlas who hits up Ty gets the handball back and threads the goal from the centre clearance against west coast was brilliant too.
One that sticks in my mind is that goal Flossy nailed against West Coast when Titch dished it out to him in the middle, where he then hit up Vickery and received it again for a running goal. Was magic.
That was amazing. His over the head handball was brilliant.
 
Gonna toot my horn but i noticed that one ;)

To be fair Hounddd noticed it too

Toot away my good friend. I tooted my own horn a few weeks back ;)


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Looking at these gifs scientifically it’s easy to tell he’s a witch or sorcerer. Has anyone contacted law enforcement or A Current Affair yet?
I dusted off my lab coat and fired up the bunsen burner today to run a few more tests on some of these "alleged" Shane Edwards clips.
My results indicate that he is some kind of time-travelling gypsy.
 

Grrr

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I made a similar comment probably 5 or 6 years ago when people were potting him. His hands are elite but doesn’t balance when kicking across his body. Having said that, he is a genuine star.
His kicking is elite, after that year quite a few ago when he couldn't hit the side of a barn. He and Dusty are the two players in our side you want kicking the ball, see's things others don't, and nearly always hits his target (Dusty is prone to the odd shank).
 
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Wow ...That's an amazing statistic, incredible even.....You've totally convinced me now that Edwards is clearly the superior footballer to Rioli.

And with that convince, I am now forced to replace Maurice in the centre of my greatest idigenous side ever, with the clearly superior Shedda.

Cheers for enlightening me as to the obvious error of my ways, masseur Proust.
Let's face it mate there is an ever-growing list of Tigers players that Hawks desperately wish they had playing for them.

Cyril was a great player but Edwards has gone past him and by the time his career ends he will be getting compared to Burgoyne not Cyril
 
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Let's face it mate there is an ever-growing list of Tigers players that Hawks desperately wish they had playing for them.

Cyril was a great player but Edwards has gone past him and by the time his career ends he will be getting compared to Burgoyne not Cyril

Here's what a real freak show looks like.
 

JAKLAUGHING

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TASMANIAN DEBILS!!!
One's a forward the other a mid, so goal highlights don't mean that much.
And not only just a mid, even though Sheds is very good in that position, he also spends playing time as a half-forward, wing! And also as captain with all that added responsibility off half-back!
 
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One's a forward the other a mid, so goal highlights don't mean that much.

I could have posted the 20 minute one, showcasing all his run-down chase & tackles, his incredible marks, his subliminal intercepts & handpasses, his cat-like reflexes & agility, his vision & anticipation, his pin-point laser left-foot passing under intense pressure.....But I kept it short & to the point out of respect for an opposition board.
 

JAKLAUGHING

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TASMANIAN DEBILS!!!
I could have posted the 20 minute one, showcasing all his run-down chase & tackles, his incredible marks, his subliminal intercepts & handpasses, his cat-like reflexes & agility, his vision & anticipation, his pin-point laser left-foot passing under intense pressure.....But I kept it short & to the point out of respect for an opposition board.
Are you talking about Shane Edwards here?!? 👍;)👍
 

Grrr

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I could have posted the 20 minute one, showcasing all his run-down chase & tackles, his incredible marks, his subliminal intercepts & handpasses, his cat-like reflexes & agility, his vision & anticipation, his pin-point laser left-foot passing under intense pressure.....But I kept it short & to the point out of respect for an opposition board.
I think we all know how good Cyril was, and I could have watched 20 minutes having lunch thanks. Edwards does most of his work in close, which is why we all see it and so many others don't. The commentators certainly rarely see the things he does, that certainly can't be said of Cyril, especially with Mr. McAvaney commentating, and the camera's rarely replay Edwards' work, again something that can't be said of every touch Rioli had.

Edwards is one of the leagues leading goal assist players, the highest centre square clearance player in the league for time spent in the middle (this year) and when he went to half back for the first time in his career this year he starred. He has a 2nd and 3rd B & F in the last 2 years.

Finished lunch, so too late for 20m of Cyril...
 
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I think we all know how good Cyril was, and I could have watched 20 minutes having lunch thanks. Edwards does most of his work in close, which is why we all see it and so many others don't. The commentators certainly rarely see the things he does, that certainly can't be said of Cyril, especially with Mr. McAvaney commentating, and the camera's rarely replay Edwards' work, again something that can't be said of every touch Rioli had.

Edwards is one of the leagues leading goal assist players, the highest centre square clearance player in the league for time spent in the middle (this year) and when he went to half back for the first time in his career this year he starred. He has a 2nd and 3rd B & F in the last 2 years.

Finished lunch, so too late for 20m of Cyril...


In other words, Maurice is the one you should be comparing & contrasting Sheds against & not Cyril.....I'm glad we've cleared that confusion up.
 
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Here's what a real freak show looks like.

I could have posted the 20 minute one, showcasing all his run-down chase & tackles, his incredible marks, his subliminal intercepts & handpasses, his cat-like reflexes & agility, his vision & anticipation, his pin-point laser left-foot passing under intense pressure.....But I kept it short & to the point out of respect for an opposition board.
With due respect to a Rioli who's name is very much royalty at Tigerland more than your club,I'll give you this 30sec take on the magician known as Shedda.
this play in the 2018 dreamtime game (2:31 left in the 2nd quarter)
giphy.gif
 
I reckon he went underappreciated for such a long time because he was always one step ahead of even his own team mates. Now that we're such a cohesive unit, we have the speed to keep up with him. He's still underrated, but I feel like many punters have had him in AA contention over the last couple of years.

I've been saying since his early games he can see the game unfold faster than his opponents and teammates can. It's like his life is running a second ahead of everyone else. That, in part had him looking a bit silly at times as he 'sprayed' the ball around. Yes, it was sprayed at times skill wise, but it was also so sublime that teammates just didn't get it yet. You could see it in his body language early days

Was fortunate to have a chat with Francis Jackson about Shane in his earliest playing days. Francis said back then (Shed's first season) that he felt that Shane was probably the most important and uniquely skilled player he has has brought to Richmond via the draft. Even then he was saying it would take at least 5 years to see what Shane is truly capable of and just get better from there. Credit where credit is due to Francis, that is pretty visionary. Shane Edwards is our Shaun Burgoyne and visa versa.

I never really wavered, held the faith, watched him closely. Enjoying his football immensely.
 
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