Ok, … just watched the Vic ABC News on delay, … turns out it is Hayley Wilson, (as mentioned) who is predicted to be an Olympic Games Skateboard Medallist, in the next Olympic comp,
Tamara, … "And staying on the subject of “LEGENDS”, . … the Sporting Hall of Fame has a unique “Mentoring” program, for the Next Generation of Stars.
One of those taking part in the program is Aussie Teenage Skateboarder Hayley Wilson… who is now in the frame for an Olympic Medal, & in the lead up to the Tokyo Games,… she is hoping to learn some new tricks from her MENTOR, … AFL GREAT Kevin Sheedy.
"There are few more unlikely partnerships in Sport than this, … a Football LEGEND & a rising Skateboarding Star …
etc …
Starts 25.30.
Also, … did anyone realise the TOP SPORTING GONG on offer in the entire Country at the Australian Sporting HALL OF FAME awards, … is called “THE DON” Award ??
Very appropriate, … I’m sure we’d all agree, … 
Out Tanner, in Sheedy. Would play the media like a violin.
Top farkin bloke.
Kevin Sheedy TFB
Didn’t know where else to post this. But it made me laugh out loud
That was a classic story.
There were many such stories told last night, including the send off for his last game, when there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
I reckon those tears after the game were for Harvs even though he reckons they were all for Lady Di- my recollection is the announcement about her death came over the PA in between Reserves and Seniors game.
You’re spot on. One of those ‘I remember where I was when…’ moments.
I’m not sure I believed his seagull story either.
But he told it well!
. Was there an actual square up with White during that game? Can’t remember.
Do remember the incident with Sheeds though as clear as day.
I got a lot of respect for Westcoast after Sheeds and Hird’s last match over in Perth.
I thought Dom Sheed is still playing
I remember they had it as a scrolling display on that small electronic scoreboard too, which I always found somewhat strange. But I was far more invested in us getting the win than the death of some irrelevant (to me) foreign aristocrat, so whatevs.
The news was out earlier that morning, but some may not have heard it till the ground announcement. Nobody was crying for her two hours later as Harvs took the greatest lap of honour ever.
Laps didn’t happen back, except after a Grand Final, and they certainly didn’t get replayed in full on Seven that night.
Here’s a re-enactment:
Mark Harveys eyes are potentially the most insane looking eyes youll ever see.
Legit imagine belting him and then he comes running at you with these fkg lamps on
Thought something had happened to the great man…
Kevin Sheedy’s accomplished Australian rules career was sparked by a maths equation
Tracey Holmes
It was not the passion or skill of Aussie rules football that saw Kevin Sheedy choose that sport over cricket as the one to dedicate a life to, and in the process change the face of the game and what it stands for in a broader Australian landscape.
Key points:
- Sheedy chose Australian rules over cricket during his youth
- He credits the late Lionel Rose as one of the inspirations behind his coaching career
- Sheedy says his achievements as a player and coach had a lot to do with his devotion to lifelong learning
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains images and names of people who have died.
Instead, it was a mathematical equation.
“The reason I chose football quite simply was that they picked 14 people in the teams, my height, and there were 12 teams in Melbourne,” Sheedy told The Ticket.
“Twelve fourteens are 168. The other sport I loved was cricket and I was a leg spinner. They only picked one [leg spinner in cricket teams] … so I thought I’d go with the odds — 168 versus one. And it paid dividends.”
It is hard to know where to place Sheedy’s genius.
Legend has it that while pottering in his much-loved garden in the 1990s, Sheedy devised the now hugely popular Anzac Day match between Essendon and Collingwood at the MCG.
Sheedy wanted to pay tribute to the Anzac spirit, having himself served two years in the army.
Dreamtime at the 'G is another annual event out of the Sheedy box. Played between Essendon and Richmond, it combines the Indigenous spiritual belief of ‘the dreaming’ — described as the beginning of knowledge — with Australia’s most hallowed sporting crucible, the MCG.
It is played during the AFL’s annual Indigenous round to recognise the contribution of Indigenous players to the code.
Many of those Indigenous players came into the game because of Sheedy’s personal recruitment drive, something he had committed to even before becoming a coach.
In 1968, Australian boxer Lionel Rose — having been overlooked for the Australian Olympic team four years earlier — travelled to Tokyo to defeat Fighting Harada and claim the world bantamweight title.
He returned to Australia a hero, with a quarter of a million people lining the streets of Melbourne to greet him upon his arrival.
The impact on Sheedy was profound. Rose is one of 28 Australian athletes Sheedy said had the greatest impact on him and his life as detailed in his recent book, Icons of Sport.
Rose was Australia’s first Indigenous boxing world champion and in the same year became the first Indigenous person to be named Australian of the Year.
Sheedy was inspired by the achievements of Australian boxing great Lionel Rose (pictured).(Getty)
His rise was in the same period when Australians overwhelmingly voted to change the country’s constitution, allowing Indigenous people to be counted in the census for the first time.
“You’ve got Lionel Rose leaving a little country town around Drouin and Warragul and [he] gets on a plane in the '60s and goes over and wins the world title in Tokyo against Fighting Harada,” Sheedy said.
“Now, that was a monster decision to say to me personally, ‘One day, I’m going to get into recruiting these Indigenous boys and if ever I get a coaching job … I’m going to do something about it’.”
Richmond, North Melbourne and several other clubs recruited Indigenous players here and there. During his tenure as Essendon coach — with the club’s blessing — he recruited 20 Indigenous players.
“I’m very proud of that,” Sheedy said.
“I used to hear that many criticisms about lack of dedication, [Indigenous people] can’t handle the pressure, don’t know whether they can really play on the big day on the MCG … well, per head of population they’ve done pretty well with the Norm Smith Medal (award for best on ground in the grand final).”
Sheedy coached Essendon for 27 seasons between 1981 and 2007, and reached seven grand finals, winning four of them. He won three premierships as a player with Richmond in what was then the VFL competition.
His combined total of 929 matches as a player and coach is a record, spanning half a century in an industry where some count themselves lucky to have an involvement of only two or three years.
Sheedy is a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and has legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Sheedy coached Essendon from 1981 to 2007, winning four premierships in that time.(Getty: Allsport Darrin Braybrook)
But it would be wrong to think of Sheedy as someone whose achievements are in the past. He continues to innovate and think about the positive influence he can still bring, citing his attitude as his greatest skill.
“I’ve got a good, healthy attitude, I reckon, that’s kept me vibrant,” he said.
"I’m in the last quarter of my life, obviously, and I want to see more of the world, and more of my own country … [I want to] try to do more good things around our country.
“And I can do that now, I’ve got an opportunity now because there’s a trust issue with Australians. If they like you, and they think they can trust your opinion, then you’ve got a chance, you have a chance.”
Sheedy’s lifelong learning
As the first full-time coach in VFL/AFL history, Sheedy has spent most of his life teaching others as a guide and mentor.
For him, leadership is about sharing lessons learned from a life well spent.
“I think that we can learn from everybody, there’s no doubt about that, I think that’s probably the best way I could look at my own life,” he said.
"I mean, there are just so many wonderful people in Australia.
"Obviously I had to go overseas and buy knowledge — lots of books, lots of videos in the '70s and '80s — and come back and apply myself to a career that no-one was doing full-time.
"But the only way I could do that was to go and chase — all that time [being] away from your family and your wife looking after kids for six weeks at a time after football season — and then come back and just hope you get it right.
"For me, many people in AFL have been wonderful. Many people in other sports, the Australian Sports Hall of Fame … and many of those incredible legendary champions I meet nearly every year … [they’re] just fantastic for me.
“I consider myself still young — although I’m probably cheating that a bit — but in the end I love meeting all my heroes and I love writing about them and what they meant to me.”
On a winter afternoon during Victoria’s extended COVID-19 lockdown, Sheedy sat again in his garden, contemplating who had inspired him — and how — through each of the decades.
Sheedy describes Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne (right) as a trailblazer.(Reuters: Hamish Blair)
Among them was Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015.
“[A] trailblazer …stood her ground against officialdom to set the pathway for herself and all women jockeys,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy had also drawn inspiration from Jessica Watson, who in 2010 became the youngest person — at 16 — to sail solo around the world.
“The most courageous teenager in sport — in her craft — in my lifetime,” he said.
Sheedy praised the dedication of America’s Cup-winning skipper and Olympic sailing medallist, John Bertrand.
“He studied the wind and the ocean at university to help him become a great sailor,” Sheedy said.
“His watchwords were trust and purpose.”
And there is the story of legendary horse trainer, Bart Cummings, a man Sheedy describes as a “classic”.
“I asked him what was his greatest-ever skill,” Sheedy said.
"He said, ‘Well, it’s something a lot of people wouldn’t know’. I was all ears, obviously, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, what is it?’.
"He said, ‘Observation’.
"Now, I would never have thought that was going to be the answer. I said, ‘Well, why do you think you need that?’, and he said, ‘Because a horse can’t talk’.
“Incredible answer.”
‘My favourite place’
Since watching the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne as a young kid growing up in suburban Australia, there has not been a sporting event or personality that has escaped Sheedy’s attention.
Yet, his greatest thinking is done away from the stadia and arenas that have dominated his life.
“I think that the Botanic Gardens was my favourite place [as a kid],” he said.
"When I was in Prahran and South Yarra … it was very poor in some areas.
"We had seven children, and mum and dad in a very small house — that’s nine people — so I always wanted a garden.
"I bought an acre … so that taught me that one day if you ever get the chance, go and build your own garden and make it similar to what you always loved.
"There was not a lot of money in Australia. Forget about two-car families. We never had television, we had radio, and if you ever thought you could have a transistor you were a very wealthy young kid.
"I reckon the thing I loved about our young country at that time was the MCG … and the Olympic Games in 1956.
"It was an inspiration for our country to get that from mainly Europe and other Pacific nations … I think they (International Olympic Committee) must have wanted it a long, long way away from war-torn nations of the world.
"I don’t know how they made that decision, so I try and look back on making decisions like that — how do you think that far ahead? And these are the sorts of things I grew up with.
“I had beautiful parents and fantastic friends, and [with] the paperboy rounds I had I got to meet Australia walking the streets, catching trams and trains, selling newspapers … I loved it.”
Sheedy (left) — pictured with his 2000 premiership captain James Hird — maintains his love of Australian rules.(AAP: Joe Castro)
If Sheedy could come back and do it all again, would it be any different? Would he be different?
“Wow, gee. That’s a big question or two,” Sheedy said.
"[Personally] I don’t want to be any more than what I am. Money is OK, too much is ridiculous.
“To me, if you’ve got a lot of money out there — the billionaires, the multimillionaires — just give some back to the people that don’t have any, somehow. Work it out.”
Firm. Succinct. Solution focused. Sheedy has spent a lifetime looking for winning formulas. This is just the latest.
Tracey Holmes doing the Ticket interview , now showing on ABC TV 24 news channel
Police review maskless pictures of Kevin Sheedy and Victorian Coalition MPs
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says he will co-operate with police as they assess whether he and his colleagues breached mask rules in parliament.
But Mr Guy hit out at the current guidelines and said they should be simplified.
Victoria Police is studying images of Mr Guy and other Coalition MPs with Essendon great Kevin Sheedy in which they appear to not be wearing masks indoors.
No charges have been laid or fines handed out at this time.
Mr Guy said they would co-operate with police and pay fines if needed, but said the rules were confusing for everyday Victorians.
He said mask mandates should only be for high-risk settings.
“They’re confusing for parents and they’re confusing for a lot of students,” Mr Guy said.
“These kind of rules in non high-risk settings, is think Victorians are moving past.
“There was a number of us there with a coffee, there was a number of us sitting down.
“If we made a mistake (and) if I made a mistake, then of course we will do the right thing.”
“Victoria Police is currently assessing images circulating on social media of MP’s without a mask on in parliament on 8 February,” a spokesman said on Tuesday.
“As the incident is being reviewed by investigators, we will not be providing further comment at this stage.”
He’s Essendon so I think they will all be hung drawn and quartered