Very early on i went to see a preccy match at the Western Oval. Was sitting watching when Sheedy and the Dud come and sat behind me. It was early in the Dud’s career. I overheard a little of the discussion and it was revealing. The Dud was kissing Sheed’s arse and big noting himself by highlighting attributes of players. Sheedy kept telling him that what he was looking at was not important and he should be looking at other things. I always had time for Sheedy’s opinion of players, although he was not always correct. When they left I was concerned about how good a judge the Dud was, well we all know how that turned out.
Out of curiosity did you catch what the dud might have said that sheeds deemed not important qualities in players?
I reckon just going off the fact that most players with the surname Kennedy are bloody good players… WSPHU
Was he pointing out all the private school captains?
I wonder if it was their ability to spell Gatorade backwards.
He sounds a bit like Archie Roberts… we should be all over it
Wasn’t Sheedy the guy who chased a story line ahead of actual talent?
Wanted to draft the first Maori even though there already was one in the AFL.
The romance with past players sons was also a negative.
Playing Richards forward instead of where he eventually succeeded at as a defender at another club. Sounds like Massimo vibes there.
Or playing Reynolds as a defender on Fevola when it was pretty clear he was not even AFL standard. Sounds like Weideman vibes there.
There’s plenty more in Kevin’s box of wild stuff that he got away with when we were successful, but had major flaws when things didn’t go our way.
I’m not defending Dodoro, but the Sheedy way of recruiting wasn’t successful when every team had the same access to players through the draft.
The game has changed so much in the last 30 years. There’s way more IQ / gameplan and how players react in certain situations that just aren’t tested at junior level. There’s way more of an emphasis on running and fitness than previous. And that’s all combined into having the strength to be able to go against opposition players who have already honed those skills. And that’s before you get to where the player fits within the team structure.
Not sure if these have been posted yet:
I wonder what the coach means by “clean on both sides” … because he’s a bit of a butcher of the footy by foot, its his main limitation.
I did one of Kennedy’s performances earlier in the year:
lol, jnr coach pumping up the tyres of a former player right on the cusp of being drafted, or not…
couldn’t get a game for metro either
parish vibes, smallish, finds the ball well, good by hand, not super fast, zero hurt factor by foot.
Given the depth of the draft this year there will be a bunch of players that would have been taken late in a normal year that will have to bide their time and hope for a rookie list spot. I suspect Kennedy will be in that camp. Might even have to spend a year playing VFL and building towards a MSD pick or SSP, something like that.
Do you think that applies to Nguyen aswell
Could be. I’ve said all along that he’s likely to be a rookie pick or very late main draft. He showed his best form of the season in the final rounds and he pulled out a big combine performance so those things will count in his favour.
I think Nguyen is more likely to be picked than Kennedy.
Another question for you who is your biggest left field selection, eg one with the most upside but isn’t spoken about commonly
For that I’d be looking at the guys that entered the season with a big reputation but didn’t produce for one reason or another. I’ve mentioned a couple already in Archer Day-Wicks and Patrick Retschko. Both will be super late pick ups due to relatively underwhelming performances this season, but both have the physical traits and skill set to be good AFL players if they figure things out. Good size, athleticism, balls skills.
One of my pet players is Jonty Faull. He was clearly the best key forward prospect entering the year, and just couldn’t get going due to a persistent back injury. The injury is a risk as we know, we’ve seen Gumby/Reid/Cox struggle with similar issues… but if he can overcome it he could be the steal of the draft.
Collingwood 6 footer!? 181cm 5’11.
It’s actually exciting in a way to see if we can steal one really good one out of those late picks. We probably only need one, and if it’s a project player like you’ve nominated I’d be very happy.
I think the key is understanding why they underperformed. The club will be in a much better position to judge that through interviews and background checks. It could be personal, something off field, niggling injury that the public doesnt know about etc. Or it could be a sign of mental weakness or lack of competitive drive.