The Age today - Sheedy gone at year's end
Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:12 am
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.
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.