I was heart broken for him. He was basically dropped so wallis could come in an thump someone. Wallis duly obliged of course but I’m not convinced that was the difference on the day
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You better hope Wim doesn’t read this. He has strong feelings on this topic.
It gets overlooked that David Flood was also left out for the GF. He played in the PF and was pretty serviceable. It didn’t matter… he could’ve had 40 touches and kicked 5, but was always going to be left out for Mark Harvey.
The part that was controversial was who Kickett was left out for… Dean Wallis. Remember, he was far from the dependable CHB that he ended up. He was an inconsistent, perennially injured Sheedy pet, who really hadn’t done anything to earn a spot. He may’ve justified things by knocking Mil Hanna into another stratosphere (a hit that these days would earn a 10 week holiday), but his selection was somewhat dubious.
Watson’s form in the lead-up to the GF hadn’t been great either. His 2 goals in the PF probably saved him. Plus the fact he was Tim Watson.
We went to the final training session that year. It was obvious that Wallis would be coming in… it was just a matter of who it would be for…
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I agree that Flood should have played.
I don’t think either of Kickett or Wallis should have. (I also think C Daniher was pretty lucky.)
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It was a gf, sheedy would view selecting an enforcer as a no brainer. Wallis didn’t let him down. Nor did he in 2000.
Still aches that it was kickett that missed though.
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Once Carlton lost their 5th or 6th best midfielder, it was game over…
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As I said, not sure it influenced the result, but wallis was picked to thump someone and he did.
People forget just how dirty the hit is. He actually punches him in the jaw while bumping him.
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I would have picked Flood over Wallis in 93. He was a much better footballer than Wallis.
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Good to see my favorite thread getting attention again, I’m on a Brad Scott thread posting break for a couple more months though 
Was Ron Andrews injured or left out of the 83 gf?
Ron Andrews was left out. Without an enforcer the Essendon players just got blatantly bashed by Hawthorn thugs eg Tim Watson punched (concussed) in the face way out of play - the ball was down the other end (which is why it wasn’t captured on TV).
It was a mistake that Sheedy learned from.
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Yeah, that’s what I figured
I think C Daniher was pretty lucky too.
He was the replacement for Kickett I reckon
But we won and that is all that really matters
James Hird was pretty lucky as well. Was poor in the semi against WC (although Kickett was worse)
O’Donnell, Sommerville, Denham, Boris, Chris Daniher, Grenvold all played GFs prior
And a not so bad coach.
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I reckon the flag would have removed any bad taste in people’s mouths. Results do the talking.
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I always said that had Kickett played and Essendon lost, no one would have thanked Sheedy. Hindsight suggests we probably would have won regardless, but 93 was not 2000 where we were going into that GF as raging favorites. Sheedy chose who he believed could best play a role in the GF and it’s hard to argue that he was wrong.
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