News Kev blames no forward thinking

[Vass38]

After reading the herald suns article this morning where Sheedy blames a lot of our current problems on lack of forward structure, i have to say I agree.
In 2009 we lost or moved on Lloyd, Lucas, McPhee & Lovett, A fair bit of fire power there. Add to this the fact that Knights hasnt played Neagle or M.Williams, with the later now struggling with injury.
Our top goal scorer now is Zaharakis, who is a great young player - but cant be expected to fill the shoes of some of his predecessors. We is ably supported by Monfries & Davey, but apart from them - who else do we really have that is an out an out goal kicker???

Sheedy went on further to say that whilst he supports Knights he is suprised he got the job ahead of the likes of Harvey, Hardwick, M.Williams and co. Have to say I agree with him there also.

I really hope Knights bites the bullet and continues to play Neagle (who else do we have). Gumby starts to get more consistant - improve his kicking and have more of an impact on games, and Hurley also can do more. These guys are young and need to be given time to develop, but let them play, keep them forward and hopefully they can start to gel and form a potent form line that other sides fear like in the days of Lloydy & Lucas.

Comon Bombers!!!

 

[DapperDon]

If what is said is true in that article, in that we didn't wait an extra week to talk to Bomber about coaching us then my head will just about explode.

Where's Longy, fill us in if you can.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Sheeds is in no place to talk about lack of forward thinking.

FFS, as much as I love him, it's mostly his fault that we're in this situation right now.

 

[Kong]

If Sheedy were coaching right now, we'd have a forward line of

Tutlan - Lucas - Oakley-Nicholls
Sampi - Lloyd - Salmon

 

[Seb78]

If Sheedy were coaching right now, we'd have a forward line of

Tutlan - Lucas - Oakley-Nicholls
Sampi - Lloyd - Salmon

They'd probably perform better than our current forward six

 

[Kong]

You're having a laugh.

 

[bombzrule]

Sheeds is in no place to talk about lack of forward thinking.

FFS, as much as I love him, it's mostly his fault that we're in this situation right now.

thats rubbish, in his last few years they were only signing sheeds a year at time, of course he had to keep flogging a dead horse, the problems we have now started a long time ago.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

His last contract was a three year extension.

Like it or not, it's his fault the list is ****ed atm.

 

[Kong]

Funny to see Sheedy take a swipe at the club for its list management; Knights spent his first two years clearing out the crap that Sheeds had left us with.

He also had a dig at Essendon for losing McPhee for nothing; obviously can't recall the part where McPhee walked out on us after the trade period.

 

[Pweter]

I find the article quite funny.

To me, no forward thinking at Essendon is picking up players like Zantuck, Alvey, Salmon, Allen, Camporeale, Murphy, Cole etc at the detriment of investing in youth.

 

[Vass38]

Yes - you must wonder about Sheed's motivation in saying what he said in this article. He does raise some valid points though, and I certainly think Neagle and M.Williams should have been given more of a go earlier in the season. At least Gumby & Hurley seem to be heading in the right direction...

 

[ManWithNoName]

Yes - you must wonder about Sheed's motivation in saying what he said in this article. He does raise some valid points though, and I certainly think Neagle and M.Williams should have been given more of a go earlier in the season. At least Gumby & Hurley seem to be heading in the right direction...

FFS...Williams was injured.

 

[Vass38]

FFS...Williams was injured.

Im talkin earlier in the season when he was playing at Bendigo. And if he was injured or carrying an injury than why the big secret? Why not come out and let people know so supporters aren't wondering...?? I distinctly remeber several threads here wondering why he wasnt being picked or played and now people are saying he was injured...Pretty sure he played a few games at Bendigo and kicked a few goals but for whatever reason was not selected and I dont think it was just injury

 

[essendongirl]

thats rubbish, in his last few years they were only signing sheeds a year at time, of course he had to keep flogging a dead horse, the problems we have now started a long time ago.

how long ago??? because im pretty sure before knights we had the same coach for 27 years!! in his last few years as coach Sheedy did more positive work for the AFL than for the Essendon Football Club, reflected in our position on the ladder! the problem is with the list that knights inherited from sheedy and how he has managed it over the past couple of years. Essendon has no A grade middle aged players, sure we have youth and we have fletch but wheres the developed 25 year olds in the prime of their careers who should have been drafted under the reign of kevin sheedy!

 

[daffo]

This was a point that I brought up at the end of last year. We could NOT afford to lose Lloyd, Lucas, McPhee and Lovett. They were four of our top six goal scorers in 2009. Neagle (played 2 games this year) and Monfries were the other two.

At this stage it looks as though Zaka will win our top goal scoring with a mere 25-30 goals at best.
Does anyone know the last time Essendon had a top goal scorer below 30 goals???? (i think) 1929.
You can't say that wasn't expected...

 

[stander]

The pot shots from the old fox don't surprise, after all, in his own words, "EFC was a good client of mine". He's doing anything he can to get his hands on Joe Daniher, even it means publicly ridiculing the Dons. The funny part is that Sheeds will go down as winning only 21 games in his last three seasons and Knights (apparently an incompetent coach) has already topped him. And Bradley is an interesting one- Sheeds will be also be remembered for transforming a promising number 7 draft pick into arguably the worst player ever to wear red and black.

 

[The House]

Sheeds is in no place to talk about lack of forward thinking.

FFS, as much as I love him, it's mostly his fault that we're in this situation right now.

Spot ****ing on Ben!

Sheedy is the last person on the planet to criticise a senior afl coach for lack of forward thinking....he left our list in a shambles.

.....Knights has only had 2 national drafts ever so i'm not sure how much forward planning he could have done.

Sheedy and Aker are the biggest jokes in modern footy....all they do is put forward outrages points of view to get a reaction, and often aren't really sure what they're on about.

Anyone a regular reader of Sheedy's articles?
Commonplace for him to have 2 or 3 of his facts mixed up (i.e. wrong).

Forever grateful for '81-'03, but Sheeds you senile old fool, all you've done since is deminish the ledgend that is Sheedy by talking nonsence.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

I find the article quite funny.

To me, no forward thinking at Essendon is picking up players like Zantuck, Alvey, Salmon, Allen, Camporeale, Murphy, Cole etc at the detriment of investing in youth.

Spot on. Forward thinking my arse Sheeds.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

07 was a Knights draft as well, The House.

 

[yodellinhank]

If Sheedy were coaching right now, we'd have a forward line of

Tutlan - Lucas - Oakley-Nicholls
Sampi - Lloyd - Salmon

Maybe. I found it interesting in another thread somebody posted Sheedy's 2010 team that he wrote back in 2007.

B: Lee, Dick, Reimars
HB: Slattery, Ryder, Nash
C: Hislop, Watson, Dempsey
HF: Lovett, Johns, Davey
F: Gumbelton, Neagle, Dyson
R: Laycock, Winderlich, Jetta
Int: Houli, Hocking, Lonergan, Chartres, McKinnon


The interesting part, I found, was that if you take out the oddballs and replace them with a couple of our draft picks since then, and of course Kepler Bradley:


B: Hooker, Pears, Reimars
HB: Slattery, Ryder, Nash
C: Hislop, Watson, Dempsey
HF: Lovett, Hurley, Davey
F: Gumbelton, Neagle, Dyson
R: Laycock, Winderlich, Jetta
Int: Houli, Hocking, Lonergan, Zaharakis, Bradley

I think the interesting thing is that his team has no McVeigh, Fletcher, or Hille. I think, if Knighter intends on building our next premiership, it would be good to see the future planning beyond our senior players.

Fletcher and Hille especially have had much to do with the limited successes we have had this season. Much of the criticism of Sheedy's last season is that it was only half decent due to the senior players still on the list. Yet the same criticism can be thrown at Knights now.

 

[djrossie16]

These three players Hurley Zaharakis and Melksham are all foward thinking players so from the recruiting point of view things are going quite well. However the gameplan and execution not so much.

Having said that the worst course of action to take is what Sheedy took where he recruited players who are over the hill. That leaves your club in ruins for years.

 

[yodellinhank]

I find the article quite funny.

To me, no forward thinking at Essendon is picking up players like Zantuck, Alvey, Salmon, Allen, Camporeale, Murphy, Cole etc at the detriment of investing in youth.

And this is the paradigm that frustrates the hell out of me. Who are these Youth players he was supposed to invest in? Oh that's right, the fictitious gun right under our noses that nobody else picked...

Zantuck: Pick 6 in the PSD '04. Dammit, we missed out on Elijah Ware, Matthew Smith, Leigh Ryswyk. The next 3 players chosen in PSD/Rookie drafts. Certainly came back to haunt us those...

Alvey: Part of a trade for Jacobs. A cherry on top of a trade we had to make. A trade we had to make possibly because of a 5 year Mercuri contract reportedly signed by Jackson without consultation with the football dept. Actually a young player when we got him.

Allen: We traded pick 57 in 03. Carlton took Ricky Mott. Boy are our faces red.

Camporeale: 4 in the 05 PSD. Overlooked the likes of Matthew White, Ben Fixter, Cameron Thurley. The crows picked up Porplyzia the pick before our next, they have a habit of good late picks. Wonder how much they spent on recruitment during the same period?

Murphy: In a trade which typifies how badly we did during this era, we lost the great Cory McGrath who went on to have such a fantastic career.

Cole: Collingwood obtained champion footballer Ryan Cook with the pick we spent on the Cole trade. Cleve Hughes, Wayde Mills, Garick Ibbotson, Dylan Addison and Matt Riggio all taken around that mark before Ben McKinley got selected.

Salmon: Taken the draft after we had played in a Grand Final, and our number 1 ruckman retired.

Not all that stupid when you think about it really.

 

[Pweter]

And this is the paradigm that frustrates the hell out of me. Who are these Youth players he was supposed to invest in? Oh that's right, the fictitious gun right under our noses that nobody else picked...

Zantuck: Pick 6 in the PSD '04. Dammit, we missed out on Elijah Ware, Matthew Smith, Leigh Ryswyk. The next 3 players chosen in PSD/Rookie drafts. Certainly came back to haunt us those...

Alvey: Part of a trade for Jacobs. A cherry on top of a trade we had to make. A trade we had to make possibly because of a 5 year Mercuri contract reportedly signed by Jackson without consultation with the football dept. Actually a young player when we got him.

Allen: We traded pick 57 in 03. Carlton took Ricky Mott. Boy are our faces red.

Camporeale: 4 in the 05 PSD. Overlooked the likes of Matthew White, Ben Fixter, Cameron Thurley. The crows picked up Porplyzia the pick before our next, they have a habit of good late picks. Wonder how much they spent on recruitment during the same period?

Murphy: In a trade which typifies how badly we did during this era, we lost the great Cory McGrath who went on to have such a fantastic career.

Cole: Collingwood obtained champion footballer Ryan Cook with the pick we spent on the Cole trade. Cleve Hughes, Wayde Mills, Garick Ibbotson, Dylan Addison and Matt Riggio all taken around that mark before Ben McKinley got selected.

Salmon: Taken the draft after we had played in a Grand Final, and our number 1 ruckman retired.

Not all that stupid when you think about it really.

Saying we would've picked player X because the club we traded the pick for got player X is a ridiculous concept. We've had some handy players come off the rookie list and get drafted late, who's to say we wouldn't have unearthed another 1 or 2? We'll never know.

Yes drafting is something of a gamble and our drafting around this period was ordinary, but we would've given ourselves a better chance for the long term. All Sheedy did was cover a shark bite with a bandaid which saw us limp to a couple of 1st round finals exits and then proceed nowhere.

 

[yodellinhank]

Sheeds is in no place to talk about lack of forward thinking.

FFS, as much as I love him, it's mostly his fault that we're in this situation right now.

Probably not as much as some people are blaming him for, BTG

Was it Sheedy's fault that the club breached the salary cap, losing valuable draft picks?

Sheeds then had his hands tied with re signings due to the Mercuri deal. According to Sheedy, that decision was never run passed the football department.

There was also salary cap pressure, due to the fact the club took a punt on veterens list rulings which never came into place. This gamble also came from board level, according to Robert Shaw.

So, you have an exodus of players. You also have no picks or late picks to replace them with. And a board that seemed to have a tight fist when it came to football dept spending.

Sheedy is criticised for picking recycled players over gambling on youth. Yet requests to spend money on recruiting young talent, at least in the case of Marty Clarke, went unheeded.

Looking at that hypothetical team, I'd say Sheedy still believed we would still be in a rebuilding phase and Jackson expected success much earlier. Similar to the rumor re Hardwick V Knights. And wasn't it Jackson who put in place the "policy" of winning a flag every seven years?

We had drafting stuff ups and odd ball project players throughout Sheedy's career. But ultimately, he got results. I just don't see how the same people who call for less criticism of our club as it stands now, can pot former club legends and our history.

 

[The House]

07 was a Knights draft as well, The House.

right you are....same point remains....way too early for the majority of the drafted players to make a call saying Knights has failed in his forward planning.

'tis just typical Sheedy making big calls without substance to remain relevant in the weekly media.....shouldn't need the attention at his age, but clearly does.