Is Kevin Sheedy eccentric, barking mad or just the smartest guy in the room? His ability to spin and deflect or to find a gimmick to keep footy at the forefront has made him one of the largest and most iconic figures in the game.
As part of AFL.com.au's Seven Days of Sheedy celebration, we look back at some of the master coach's more unique ideas and attributes.
Spruiker: Face painting? Sure. Clown costume? Not a problem. Sheedy has never been afraid to poke fun at himself if it helps sell his club and promote the code.
Marshmallows: His choice description for North Melbourne officials Greg Miller and Mark Dawson. When the Roos knocked Essendon out of the 1998 finals, North fans pelted Sheedy with marshmallows as he walked back to the rooms.
Martians: By substituting the word ‘Martians’ for umpires, Sheedy found himself a loophole enabling him to criticise the men in green/yellow/red/orange.
Rat cunning: The handball over the top to Mike Green in the 1974 Grand Final. Secreting Shane Heard over to Adelaide to play in a state game in 1986. Tying up the windsock at Windy Hill in 1991 so the red-hot West Coast Eagles could not work out the wind conditions.
Koalas (aka protected species): Few outside Essendon, and not many within, were fans of Kevin Walsh and Dean Wallis. Both are dual Essendon premiership players and all-time Sheedy favourites.
Paul Salmon for Paul Barnard: Yes, we know that Salmon became a star with the Hawks and Barnard a warrior for the Dons and that premiership defender Sean Wellman was part of that deal as well. Just don’t mention Justin Murphy, Matthew Allan, Ty Zantuck and Mark Alvey, who all came later on.
Themed games: Essendon versus Collingwood on Anzac Day was conceived by Sheedy, as was Dreamtime at the ’G. More recently, it seems the Giants are playing for some sort of cup every second week.
Gestures: His triumphant wave of his Essendon jacket after an emotional win over West Coast in 1993 sparked a ritual between rival supporters that continues today. However, his throat slit gesture towards West Coast’s Mitchell White in 2001 after White felled Jason Johnson did not, and cost him a $7500 fine from the AFL.
Edna Daniher: Outside his own family, it is doubtful Sheedy professed more love for anyone over the journey than for Edna, mother of Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris, who all played for the Bombers and, famously in the final round of 1990, all on the same day.
Trailblazer: Sheedy was the first to place great store in recruiting indigenous players and, when Michael Long won the Norm Smith Medal in 1993, the rest of the competition followed suit.
1983 Grand Final speech: There might never have been a better football speech than the night Essendon lost to Hawthorn by 83 points. “I don’t want you to enjoy tonight at all … if it never hurts tonight, Essendon will never win another premiership.” Essendon would win the next two and become, for a time, the biggest football club in Australia.
Nicknames: Once called a “back pocket plumber” by Tom Hafey, Sheedy could issue a few names of his own that would stick. AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was ‘Vlad’ as in a Russian dictator. Swans coach Paul Roos was the ‘Sundance Kid’.
