Sheedy Reaches 800... And thinks about His Future

wrennyboy

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Kevin Sheedy is poised to reach yet another career milestone, reports Lyall Johnson.

It is surely a measure of the man that even on the eve of his 800th game as a VFL/AFL coach and player, Kevin Sheedy is barely allowed a moment to reflect on his career without being asked about what he plans to do next.

Will he sign a new contract with Essendon, given the present one expires at the end of the season? Will he go to Richmond as a coach? Does he think there are opportunities for him in other roles, such as being a club director of football?

Predictably, talk turned yesterday, as it has done for some years now, to the idea of Sheedy "going back" to Richmond, where he played 251 games, three of them in premierships in one of the game's toughest sides. And not even Sheedy would deny a return to Punt Road would have an obvious symmetry, given that he played his entire career there and has been awarded life membership.

But it is not something he says he is considering, much less with the present coach, Danny Frawley, still under contract and his own team not without a chance in many people's eyes of being a top-four contender this year.

"A lot of people keep asking ... it is so wrong. Danny Frawley is the coach of Richmond, I'm coaching Essendon, and ... that's the way it should be left. It's quite simple. And, hopefully, we'll see each other in the finals," Sheedy said. "I'm a life member at Richmond and I will always care about Richmond, there is no doubt about that. The Bombers and Essendon, I have nearly been there a quarter of a century, so it has been just sensational for me and the development of (me as) a person."

But will the Kevin Sheedy story not be complete if he doesn't make it back to Richmond as coach?

"I don't think so. I could always go back and be on the board of Richmond, work as a footy manager. You don't have to be a footy coach to be good for a club," he said.

And if there is one thing Sheedy can boast, along with the three premierships he played in and the four he has coached at Essendon, is that he has always been "good for a club" - and good for the game.

Sheedy is one of the great innovators of the modern game (among many pioneering coaching techniques he also invented the "back spin" handpass), and without question, one of its greatest entertainers, keeping all amused with his often whacky, and, at times, controversial "Sheedy-isms".

Even as a youngster, Sheedy found himself facing a five-year ban from the VFA when he chose to move to Richmond in the VFL in 1967 without a clearance. Despite spending part of his career in the midfield, Sheedy became known mostly as a tough and uncompromising defender, and one who was a master of on-field psychological warfare.

Not much changed when he became Essendon coach in 1981; in fact, as the years have gone on he has become more eccentric. The marshmellow comments, the jacket waving after the Dons beat West Coast in 1993, his talk of "seagulls" hitting players and the infamous "you're gone" throat- cutter gesture, his talk of Martians and even him passing out on a Perth beach this year in the heat after not drinking enough water.

Predictably enough yesterday Sheedy described the unexpected 1993 premiership win by his baby Bombers as the highlight of his career so far. It ranks among the best team achievements of the modern game.

But the lowlight, aside from the premiership losses in 1983 and 1990, he says, was the aftermath of the preliminary-final loss to Sydney in 1996 when Tony Lockett kicked the winning point after the siren.

"If (I could) take back four minutes I'd like to take that four minutes back. Knowing in the end that a lot of players were injured that night ... it was mainly just the way I spoke to the side. I should have been more experienced and more caring about a loss to a team that had just been beaten (by) a kick after the siren virtually, or on the siren. But they're the lessons you learn," he said.
 

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1980

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#4
He's not a footy club manager. He's a football team manager. He's a football player manager. He's the best coach in the VFL/AFL since we won our last premiership.

He's good enough to win us a premiership in 3 years. He's big enough to stick it up an egomaniac like Casey if he meddles. He's nasty enough to beat up the softies like Bowden for ducking a contest. He's smart enough to help Richo kick 75 goals. He wont get outcoached by ANY opposing coach on match day. He will never let us play with 17 players behind the ball.

Please come home Kevin. We cannot afford to make another coaching mistake. Your proud club will be relocated to Hobart as the Tassie Tigers.
 

oxx

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#5
Sounds like he'll retire from coaching after Essendon.imo.

Waiting for Sheeds to come back is like waiting for an ex girlfriend
to come back after she'd been happily married for 25 years
to someone you hated.
 

cairo tiger

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#6
as usual kevin is hedging his bets he would walk up to us if he could and say look the bombers have offered me 700 what are you tigers going to do, for a back pocket plumbr as tommy once said he has come a long way hes a bloody shrewd businessman
 
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#7
Originally posted by oxx
Sounds like he'll retire from coaching after Essendon.imo.

Waiting for Sheeds to come back is like waiting for an ex girlfriend
to come back after she'd been happily married for 25 years
to someone you hated.
That is one accurate comparison Oxx.

But then again, one of my ex girlfriends contacted me recently .

She is an Essendon supporter....
 

oxx

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#8
Originally posted by londontiger
That is one accurate comparison Oxx.

But then again, one of my ex girlfriends contacted me recently .

She is an Essendon supporter....
Perhaps just a glimmer of hope...............:p
 

evo

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#10
I like the ex girlfriend analogy.

Lets face it guys,if after 25 years she could still do the buisness who would say no.Especially after 5 years marriage to Splud
 

oxx

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#11
Originally posted by evo
I like the ex girlfriend analogy.

Especially after 5 years marriage to Spud
Crackin me up Evo.

What an abusive relationship.
 

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oxx

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#13
Originally posted by Otto's ladder
Like something out of Once Were Warriors.

I think I've cried more than the wife in that though.
LMAO - "Once Were Duds"

"Make the man som eggs biatch":D
 

1980

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#14
If your ex-girlfriend went on to become an international fashion model, married some squillionaire old guy, stole all his money in the divorce settlement and then looked you up and said, lets live large, would you complain?
 

oxx

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#15
Originally posted by 1980
If your ex-girlfriend went on to become an international fashion model, married some squillionaire old guy, stole all his money in the divorce settlement and then looked you up and said, lets live large, would you complain?
I guess if you were a Dud you wouldn't.

If you had your own **** together you would probably tell her to **** off.:D
 

1980

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#16
You dont have your $hit together. You've got Frawley.

If you were married to a very average lady, maybe one that thinks sheep are appropriate as "pets", you'd be off quicker than Richo with a hammy.
 

CJH

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#20
Sheedy is someone who could give us the very thing that few coaches can....


BELIEF!

Let's face it, when Spud says 'Do this and it will win you a premiership' no-one truly believes it. Because Spud has never been there or done that himself.

Sheedy - like Malthouse, Matthews or Pagan - has done it.

Do you realise that of all the current coaches in the AFL only these 4 have actually won a flag?


Do you also realise that between them, they have won 9 of the last 12 premierships?

The other 3 belong to Blight (2) and Parkin.
 
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