Wahooti Fandango
Brownlow Medallist
- Mar 10, 2007
- 20,224
- 7,816
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Queensland Reds, Melbourne Rebels
Unfamiliar waters
Samantha Lane | February 10, 2008
ESSENDON is missing Kevin Sheedy and James Hird like a couple of knocked-out teeth. Adjustment to the two big extractions is occurring naturally at Windy Hill but for now there's still a hole and the gap looks strange.
At certain times it still feels strange, too.
Mark McVeigh wasn't the only one in the Bombers' brigade who felt the absence during the club's community camp in northern NSW and the Gold Coast last week. Andrew Welsh and Dustin Fletcher, who was only 17 when he made his debut for Essendon under the only senior coach he has known until recently, confessed to feeling the same way.
"You still do get that feeling that Sheeds is going to pop up somewhere," Fletcher said, almost glancing over his shoulder while fulfilling a promotional commitment with a group of ironmen and women on the Broadbeach foreshore last week.
The scene of footballers from a foreign code meeting frighteningly toned and tanned Gold Coast bodies on their turf was one that Sheedy - neither tanned nor particularly toned - would have thrived in. Undoubtedly, a prank would have been staged that most likely would have featured on the evening news.
"He would have come up with something," Fletcher said with a laugh.
Whenever and wherever Essendon travelled, the official welcome from the host city was another setting where Sheedy, ever-keen to try out some new lines, distinguished his club from others.
McVeigh was reminded of this when the Bombers' new boss - 37- year-old Matthew Knights - spoke at a reception put on by locals last Monday.
"I think I had one of those moments there yesterday," McVeigh said. "We arrived in Ballina and you're waiting for Sheeds. He would have thrown questions back at the people that are meant to be asking him questions. He would have pumped up where we were and Essendon as much as anyone could."
For David Hille, on the other hand, the farewelling of the two icons is in the past. He said he'd put it behind him before the players reconvened for their first pre-season session of the new era.
"I came in the frame of mind of moving forward," Hille said, explaining that this was largely due to how disappointed he was with his performance in 2007.
"We had 10 weeks (off) where I think a lot of us went through that in our heads . . . whether you talked about it in your own mind or with friends or whomever, it was something that I personally had gone through over the break.
"Obviously, you miss them every now and then because you're good friends with them . . . but footballwise, I was just looking to put my best foot forward for the coaching staff and for myself."
McVeigh made an impassioned speech at the club's best-and-fairest award night late last year about the business of the players getting on in a new era. And he admits now that it's near impossible not to make comparisons between the old regime and the new.
"Without wanting to compare, you do a little bit. Just to see how they handle themselves in different situations," McVeigh said.
"When we're playing football, it will be interesting to see how Knighter handles the situation because you're so used to how Sheeds does. It's a learning experience, but I've been very impressed with how Knighter's handled the whole situation with the blow-up, I suppose, of members (when Sheedy was ousted). I think he's exceeded all expectations in terms of the way he's approached dealing with all those issues."
There were no surprise Sheedy sightings last week. Kids also found autographs to hunt down other than Hird's. And besides, as a couple of his former teammates revealed, the great No. 5 wasn't always exactly at his example-setting best on summer camps.
"He would have been trying to get out of every little thing you have to do!" McVeigh laughed while sitting next to Andrew Welsh in the back of a car bound for another picture opportunity near Byron Bay.
McVeigh and Welsh have regular contact with Hird, who only recently attended McVeigh's birthday celebrations with his wife Tania. The pair have been part of Essendon's leadership group for some years now and, clearly, the matter of them rising from being more than mere members to genuine agenda-setters is at the front of their consciousnesses.
"I'm not afraid to say it's daunting because it is," McVeigh said. "Over the summer, I've really thought about that, and that's driven me to work harder.
"Welshy and I work really hard on our leadership skills ... we think we're pretty professional in the way we approach our football, but it's going to come down to an attitude thing in a game.
"Now, more than ever, the players are going to go, 'OK, James isn't here to lift the side, who's the next one going to be?' I'd like to think that Welshy and I can be the players to do that . . . we will find out a lot about ourselves this year more than we ever have. And I'll find out about whether I'm good enough to do what the club needs."
Welsh believes the players have developed already. And Fletcher, the unassuming long-time leader at Bomberland who said he wouldn't be altering the way he goes about things too much, has noticed that others have.
"Mark (McVeigh) and Welshy and even Jobe (Watson) have stood up," he said.
"Maybe on the track when something's not getting done right, they might have sat back a couple of years ago and just let it go. Now I've noticed those three guys, and there's probably three or four others, have lifted a bit."
While Matthew Lloyd took over as captain last season and Hird was not officially a member of the club's leadership group, the definitive absence of a figure like him has changed the group dynamics.
"We're hoping it will have a positive effect in that our young guys can gain confidence and a voice in the group and speak up," Hille said.
"We're striving to make it an environment where everyone has a voice, which I think we implemented to a certain extent last year, but I believe it's moved a long way this year."
Things are different at Essendon in more tangible ways, too. Gary O'Donnell is the only member of Sheedy's old coaching panel who is still at Windy Hill. Players say they are training longer, that sessions are more structured and that Knights has introduced running and handball drills that veteran Fletcher says he has not done before.
Other elements of club life, however, notably the strength and conditioning side of things that is still run by long-time club servant John Quinn, remain the same. And, despite early predictions, where members are concerned, Essendon has lost nothing in powerhouse status. At the end of last week the club had 29,832 members - 1465 up on the same time last year.
So, to the extent that such a conclusion can be drawn after a few days of observation interstate, life for Essendon does go on without two of its, and the game's, legends. Some things are familiar, more are foreign, but the club, organically, is forging a new identity.
"We haven't got bits and pieces lying around that we're trying to mould all together," Welsh said.
"We've got totally new coaches, heaps of young kids who have only been here one or two years now. . . we've actually got a solid platform and we're actually going to start building up.
"When you start thinking of Essendon these days, we don't want to think of just one player and one coach, we want to think of the way Brisbane was a few years ago - you could name five or six guys and a great coach. I think that's the way that we're starting to head now."
Hille has a similar take.
"It'll be interesting to see how it pans out," he said. "It's going to be a team effort - a lot of guys who are in it together. That's pretty much what it's about, which isn't such a bad thing, I don't think."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/es...1202234232441.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
Samantha Lane | February 10, 2008
ESSENDON is missing Kevin Sheedy and James Hird like a couple of knocked-out teeth. Adjustment to the two big extractions is occurring naturally at Windy Hill but for now there's still a hole and the gap looks strange.
At certain times it still feels strange, too.
Mark McVeigh wasn't the only one in the Bombers' brigade who felt the absence during the club's community camp in northern NSW and the Gold Coast last week. Andrew Welsh and Dustin Fletcher, who was only 17 when he made his debut for Essendon under the only senior coach he has known until recently, confessed to feeling the same way.
"You still do get that feeling that Sheeds is going to pop up somewhere," Fletcher said, almost glancing over his shoulder while fulfilling a promotional commitment with a group of ironmen and women on the Broadbeach foreshore last week.
The scene of footballers from a foreign code meeting frighteningly toned and tanned Gold Coast bodies on their turf was one that Sheedy - neither tanned nor particularly toned - would have thrived in. Undoubtedly, a prank would have been staged that most likely would have featured on the evening news.
"He would have come up with something," Fletcher said with a laugh.
Whenever and wherever Essendon travelled, the official welcome from the host city was another setting where Sheedy, ever-keen to try out some new lines, distinguished his club from others.
McVeigh was reminded of this when the Bombers' new boss - 37- year-old Matthew Knights - spoke at a reception put on by locals last Monday.
"I think I had one of those moments there yesterday," McVeigh said. "We arrived in Ballina and you're waiting for Sheeds. He would have thrown questions back at the people that are meant to be asking him questions. He would have pumped up where we were and Essendon as much as anyone could."
For David Hille, on the other hand, the farewelling of the two icons is in the past. He said he'd put it behind him before the players reconvened for their first pre-season session of the new era.
"I came in the frame of mind of moving forward," Hille said, explaining that this was largely due to how disappointed he was with his performance in 2007.
"We had 10 weeks (off) where I think a lot of us went through that in our heads . . . whether you talked about it in your own mind or with friends or whomever, it was something that I personally had gone through over the break.
"Obviously, you miss them every now and then because you're good friends with them . . . but footballwise, I was just looking to put my best foot forward for the coaching staff and for myself."
McVeigh made an impassioned speech at the club's best-and-fairest award night late last year about the business of the players getting on in a new era. And he admits now that it's near impossible not to make comparisons between the old regime and the new.
"Without wanting to compare, you do a little bit. Just to see how they handle themselves in different situations," McVeigh said.
"When we're playing football, it will be interesting to see how Knighter handles the situation because you're so used to how Sheeds does. It's a learning experience, but I've been very impressed with how Knighter's handled the whole situation with the blow-up, I suppose, of members (when Sheedy was ousted). I think he's exceeded all expectations in terms of the way he's approached dealing with all those issues."
There were no surprise Sheedy sightings last week. Kids also found autographs to hunt down other than Hird's. And besides, as a couple of his former teammates revealed, the great No. 5 wasn't always exactly at his example-setting best on summer camps.
"He would have been trying to get out of every little thing you have to do!" McVeigh laughed while sitting next to Andrew Welsh in the back of a car bound for another picture opportunity near Byron Bay.
McVeigh and Welsh have regular contact with Hird, who only recently attended McVeigh's birthday celebrations with his wife Tania. The pair have been part of Essendon's leadership group for some years now and, clearly, the matter of them rising from being more than mere members to genuine agenda-setters is at the front of their consciousnesses.
"I'm not afraid to say it's daunting because it is," McVeigh said. "Over the summer, I've really thought about that, and that's driven me to work harder.
"Welshy and I work really hard on our leadership skills ... we think we're pretty professional in the way we approach our football, but it's going to come down to an attitude thing in a game.
"Now, more than ever, the players are going to go, 'OK, James isn't here to lift the side, who's the next one going to be?' I'd like to think that Welshy and I can be the players to do that . . . we will find out a lot about ourselves this year more than we ever have. And I'll find out about whether I'm good enough to do what the club needs."
Welsh believes the players have developed already. And Fletcher, the unassuming long-time leader at Bomberland who said he wouldn't be altering the way he goes about things too much, has noticed that others have.
"Mark (McVeigh) and Welshy and even Jobe (Watson) have stood up," he said.
"Maybe on the track when something's not getting done right, they might have sat back a couple of years ago and just let it go. Now I've noticed those three guys, and there's probably three or four others, have lifted a bit."
While Matthew Lloyd took over as captain last season and Hird was not officially a member of the club's leadership group, the definitive absence of a figure like him has changed the group dynamics.
"We're hoping it will have a positive effect in that our young guys can gain confidence and a voice in the group and speak up," Hille said.
"We're striving to make it an environment where everyone has a voice, which I think we implemented to a certain extent last year, but I believe it's moved a long way this year."
Things are different at Essendon in more tangible ways, too. Gary O'Donnell is the only member of Sheedy's old coaching panel who is still at Windy Hill. Players say they are training longer, that sessions are more structured and that Knights has introduced running and handball drills that veteran Fletcher says he has not done before.
Other elements of club life, however, notably the strength and conditioning side of things that is still run by long-time club servant John Quinn, remain the same. And, despite early predictions, where members are concerned, Essendon has lost nothing in powerhouse status. At the end of last week the club had 29,832 members - 1465 up on the same time last year.
So, to the extent that such a conclusion can be drawn after a few days of observation interstate, life for Essendon does go on without two of its, and the game's, legends. Some things are familiar, more are foreign, but the club, organically, is forging a new identity.
"We haven't got bits and pieces lying around that we're trying to mould all together," Welsh said.
"We've got totally new coaches, heaps of young kids who have only been here one or two years now. . . we've actually got a solid platform and we're actually going to start building up.
"When you start thinking of Essendon these days, we don't want to think of just one player and one coach, we want to think of the way Brisbane was a few years ago - you could name five or six guys and a great coach. I think that's the way that we're starting to head now."
Hille has a similar take.
"It'll be interesting to see how it pans out," he said. "It's going to be a team effort - a lot of guys who are in it together. That's pretty much what it's about, which isn't such a bad thing, I don't think."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/es...1202234232441.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2