(Essendon) Bombers Loose again - AFL 2006 -

Sheeds your time is up, suffering there biggest defeat in a long time at the hands of Adelaide, Adelaide 30. 8. (188) def. Essendon 6. 14. (50), middle of last year the Bombers were claiming to have a better group of young players than it's nemesis Collingwood, a year on and I wonder if they still think the same.

Sheeds has even bagged the better teams this year such as Richmond, saying that the Bombers will/would never play the same style of game that got The Tigers over the line Against Adelaide and referred to the style of play as netball and that "That style of play will get them no where" well Sheeds have a good look at them and see where they are now and that's a better position than most would have expected 2 months ago.

Kevin Sheedy media conference

Sheedy's focus on improvement
5:30:43 PM Wed 31 May, 2006
Paul Gough

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy says he is not even thinking about how much longer his distinguished coaching career will last as he focuses on getting the Bombers off the bottom of the ladder.

With Essendon a game adrift at the bottom of the ladder with just one win after nine rounds and staring at the possibility of its first wooden spoon since 1933, speculation has already began as to whether the Bombers will offer 58-year-old Sheedy a new contract when his present deal expires at the end of 2007.

By then Sheedy will have been in charge at Windy Hill for 27 years, but would still need to coach for another three years to have any chance of beating Collingwood's Jock McHale's league record of 714 games as a coach after Sheedy last week became only the second man to coach 600 AFL matches.

When asked on Wednesday whether he envisaged himself coaching Essendon beyond 2007, a jovial Sheedy laughed it off, ahead of Friday night's daunting trip to Adelaide, saying "that's a loaded question"."In the end what happens, happens," he said."We will cross that bridge when we get to it."

Sheedy said his sole focus at the moment was improving the Bombers' list."We have got to get our players up to 50 games and over as quick as we can because when you have got 13 or 14 of those (with less than 50 games experience) in the side it does put a lot of pressure on the senior players.""And we have got to pick (more) kids that will come into the game who will (eventually) play 100 games and that's a difficult task."

While the Bombers are currently on their worst losing run - eight successive losses - since 1978, Sheedy said the players were far from dispirited."The players have been sensational - the best group of players I have been involved with in 40 years (as a player and coach) in that we haven't been winning, we are on the bottom of the ladder but they haven't lost their spirit,' he said.

Sheedy said the Bombers would continue to field an inexperienced side in coming weeks saying former skipper James Hird would not be rushed back from a hamstring injury."Why rush him back, he may not play until after the mid-season break," Sheedy said."

We won't play him until he is completely right and it gives us a chance to play another young guy in the meantime."