lol
Sheeds might can the game anyway if he thinks the ground isn't up to scratch.
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Sheedy concern over playing surface
12:56:03 PM Wed 23 February, 2005
Jen Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy is waiting on a report about the condition of the playing surface at Morwell in Gippsland, east of Melbourne, before confirming whether his team will play against Richmond in a Wizard Regional Challenge Series match this Saturday.
It was at Morwell that Hawthorn players Kris Barlow and Steven Greene both sustained serious knee injuries during a practice match played there last season.
While Sheedy supports the idea of practice matches being held in country towns, he says he will not jeopardize the fitness of his players should the ground not meet the standards of the club.
"I know the AFL has had their check up (of the oval), but they don’t run the footy team," Sheedy said, after Wednesday's training session.
"(Essendon football manager) Domenic Cato and (fitness adviser) John Quinn have gone up this morning to check the ground out and make sure that we are happy with it. We'll get a report back in about hours' time whether the conditions of the ground are alright."
"I'm praying (for a good surface), otherwise, we could end up in limbo."
Responding to Sheedy's apprehension regarding the country oval, AFL Media Manager Patrick Keane stressed that the AFL will not risk injuring players with low quality grounds.
"The AFL will not at any stage be compromising the safety of its players in regards to the fields they play on," Keane said.
"The normal procedures for matches played on un-traditional ovals is for the field to have inspections a couple of months before the match, and then in the weeks leading up to the game. The Morwell oval would have been inspected late last week, or early this week."
Despite being comprehensively beaten by a dominant Carlton side last Sunday, Sheedy is optimistic about this week's practice match against a rejuvenated and promising Richmond side.
"It's great that we have games in the country, we naturally would like to promote it as a good game and bring up our best players, best young players, and really put them up there," Sheedy said.
The Bombers will be taking several young players to Morwell, with the big names that were absent from the side last week expected to miss again.
"None of them will go this week, so we will bring up a bit of a mix. We've got to see whether the younger players can put their hand up and play some serious footy," Sheedy said.
"A lot of form at that age has to do with confidence, and self-belief."
"If they want to play league footy, they've got to get up there and play well against the Tigers. The Tigers had a terrific game against Collingwood, and all but won the match really, which is a fantastic effort, and with new coaching staff and new coach, it's going to be a pretty big game."
http://bombersfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=186840
