The Age today - Sheedy gone at year's end

[gringo]

KEVIN Sheedy is highly unlikely to coach Essendon beyond 2007. The subtle message coming from Windy Hill — and it is extremely subtle at this stage — is that 27 years, four premierships and more than two generations of footballers is probably enough from the great man and that his time there has come.

No doubt, the Bombers' hierarchy, banned from publicly discussing the coach's future by chairman Ray Horsburgh, is already privately looking at just how the momentous decision will unfold and how the dreaded day will come. The man himself has said that he will accept the judges' decision but he is not exactly waving the white flag.

He has talked about how he should be judged over 27 years and not just one or three seasons. The immediate future for Essendon is not looking particularly bright despite the season being only one-third completed and, unusually, the Bombers have finished in the bottom four for the past two years.

Sheedy has talked about Matthew Lloyd and how little football he has managed in recent years. He has suggested — unthinkably — that he might look elsewhere should Essendon not renew his contract.

Most cheekily of all, he suggested on Channel Nine's Footy Classified two nights ago that the departure of great coaches could destroy football clubs for decades. He pointed to Norm Smith and Melbourne's 42-year drought, Allan Jeans and the Saints' four decades without a flag and Richmond's termination of Tom Hafey and how that club managed one more flag under Tony Jewell and then floundered.

Was the coach suggesting that the Bombers could rue the decision to sack him for decades? Certainly, the football community will miss Sheedy's extraordinary style of spin.

But Sheedy's decision to allow Channel Seven's cameras into his three-quarter-time address on Friday night was not part of any attempt to sell himself. Nor should he be criticised for sacrificing the team's performance or compromising his own message by exposing three minutes of largely workmanlike football instructions.

The manner in which so many commentators, former coaches and even present-day mentors have turned on Sheedy for doing something imaginative, something his own football club encouraged him to do, is extraordinary. Mick Malthouse suggested that Sheedy's public address, which was only intriguing in that it further demystified what goes on behind the scenes during Friday night football, could have affected his players adversely. Stan Alves was even more scathing and they were not alone.

Both opinions appeared ridiculous. Essendon lost because it was not good enough and any suggestion the coach's message was compromised only insulted the players.

Sheedy is not the first coach to go public with a match-day address. Denis Pagan did it, Dean Laidley did it and Terry Wallace once gave an interview during a game when his Bulldogs looked home and hosed.

But Sheedy, whose club publicly defended him yesterday, has reinvented the game in so many other ways.

He waved the jacket, he promoted Aboriginal football, he played all four Danihers and he helped inspire the Dreamtime game. Those are just to name a few but all brought more people to the game.

Sadly, the final straw for him might be viewed to have fallen on Anzac Day when the Bombers lost to Collingwood in a game Sheedy helped reinvent.

Come what may, there will be a job for Sheedy somewhere in football next year — if he wants it. But Sheedy knows life as an AFL ambassador will not be the same. And we all know that without Sheedy as coach, neither will the game.

[BERT]

That was a Caro article so I wouldn't read much into it.

My take is that they will make a decision between round 12 and the end of the season. I wouldn't think the board have talked about it in real detail as yet.

[gringo]

Ha. The author is our dear, dear friend Miss Wilson.

[Gyoza]

absolute crap.

why would ANZAC Day be the final straw?

[robrulz5]

You could have told us who wrote it before we read it!

[Doctor Fish]

Wonder if she wrote it in crayon...

[citizenerased]

one must credit Caro for her ability to paste together an exclusive (so exclusive the club doesnt even know it) from a few passing comments by Sheedy on a mundane, rabble "football" show.

Sheeds said outright he would love to see the crop he has put together to the finals. I say he has at least another 2 years to see that eventuate. I would think, with the position he has set us up in at the moment, we would give him the benefit of the doubt to go around at least another 2 years.

i think what has happened in the backrooms is that Sheedy was originally offered 2 years, with a view to extend that to a further 3 if 06 went well. with his great fore-sight he knew 2 years to be too short to get us into any sort of chance to threaten the top 8, pushed it to 3 with the chance of 2 more.

The end of 07 will decide Sheedy's fate, and as it stands, i think he has a pretty good case to ask for 2 more years

[The Man from Bomberland]

Good read.

[jimmyc1985]

KEVIN Sheedy is highly unlikely to coach Essendon beyond 2007. The subtle message coming from Windy Hill — and it is extremely subtle at this stage

That's journalistic talk for "i'm making this up and talking through my arsehole".

[Windy_Hill]

Living in Denial Boys

Sheeds is as good as gone.

But dont fret it, such an outcome should be viewed as death by natural causes. After 27 years, no one has the right to think that he is being hardly done by. This football club feels tired and uninspired. Is that the coaches fault? Possibly not. However, a generational change (Sheedy and Hird) could lead to a reinvigoration of the entire set up.

[Western Red]

Happy to see him stay myself!!!

[Rotorog]

Second you on that Windy!! These clowns who think there is no life at Essendon after Sheedy are deluding themselves. The club is bigger than the individual and at the moment the club is suffering because of the individual. Sheedy himself said after the loss to the Kangaroos that the Bombers played dumb football. The players play as they are coached. Does that quote then reflect on the coach himself. There must be a clean out of the entire coaching staff next year if this club is to go anywhere in 2008 because it is plain to see that 2007 like 2006 is "slip sliding away"

Living in Denial Boys

Sheeds is as good as gone.

But dont fret it, such an outcome should be viewed as death by natural causes. After 27 years, no one has the right to think that he is being hardly done by. This football club feels tired and uninspired. Is that the coaches fault? Possibly not. However, a generational change (Sheedy and Hird) could lead to a reinvigoration of the entire set up.

[citizenerased]

However, a generational change (Sheedy and Hird) could lead to a reinvigoration of the entire set up.

just like Carlton when Parkin left and a successful senior coach took his spot?

i dont see what speculation at Rd 7, with a 3-4 record, achieves.

if at seasons end we havent won 10 games, perhaps look at it then. But changing the coach just because we are down and he has been there for 27 years is the thinking equivalent of sailing into stormy waters because the sea has been calm for a bit.

[swoodley]

And so what happens if we happen to win 10-12 games for the year. Didn't Horsburgh talk about Sheedy being judged by the development of the young players and the team.

Extrapolate 3-4 out to 22 games and you get 9 possibly 10 wins. After last year that is certainly a reasonable improvement.

And before all the nay sayers bark about my logic, none of you have been able to show any significant proof that we won't avhieve that number of wins.

Three weeks ago, it was all aboard the finals bandwagon by a lot of posters on BT. Now we've lost three in a row, everyone wants their money back.

Speculation can be interesting, fun and downright amusing but that's all these threads/posts are (including mine).

No-one has a crystal ball so I suppose we'll all just have to wait and see what September brings to the rabid BT fans (that's all of us)

In the meantime....feel free to speculate all you like

[Boyler_Room]

I for one believe that should we manage to improve in a couple of areas, we're a real chance to play finals football... and not just in a capacity to "make up the numbers".

However, those areas are the same areas that we failed to improve last season, resulting in finishing 15th, on percentage. So easier said than done.