Former Rooster Shane Edwards flies under the radar with RichmondKym Morgan
Adelaide Advertiser
September 05, 2014 GREG Edwards reckons son Shane is the most invisible 150-game player in the AFL, and that’s the way both of them like it.
The Tigers small forward has typically flown under the radar during Richmond’s staggering revival over the past nine weeks, but his impact hasn’t been lost on his coach Damian Hardwick.
Nor will it be ignored by Power coach Ken Hinkley as he plots how to stop the Tigers at Adelaide Oval this Sunday.
Playing the difficult small forward role, former North Adelaide player Edwards has averaged 21 possessions, one goal and 3.5 tackles a match since round 14.
He again proved his underrated value when he racked up 25 disposals pinch hitting in the midfield during the Tigers pulsating win over the Swans last week.
“I always tell him, I reckon he’s the most invisible player in the competition for the amount of games he’s played,’’ Edwards senior says.
“And he always says he hopes that never changes because that’s the way he likes it.
“There’s still a lot of people that wouldn’t even know who he is after 150 games and he’d love that.”
Greg, now the chief executive at North Adelaide, was a star in his own right.
In 1982, he became the youngest ever SANFL player to kick 100 goals in a season, when he bagged 104 majors for Central District as a 19-year-old.
His career was tragically cut short after he suffered a serious eye injury in a trial match against Glenelg the following year.
Edwards senior has been a quiet, but admiring, observer as Shane has gone from a 65kg teenage draftee to an important role player at Richmond, and attributed his son’s transformation to hard work.
“I’m just proud of him,’’ Greg says.
“He was always a pretty skinny and small junior.
“He was never the best junior in his team but he did all the little things really well and he worked hard.”
Complementing Edwards’ hard work is a freakish ability and a flair which prompted Hardwick to recently label the forward “an incredible talent”, and admire Edwards’ season-on-season improvement.
Edwards senior has a small link to Alberton, where he was the chief executive for the Magpies for a short time.
But there is no question where his loyalties lie this Sunday.
He, wife Tara, and his other son, Kym, will be at Adelaide Oval supporting the Tigers.
“I was actually a Geelong support up until 2007 when Shane joined,’’ Edwards says.
“I switched that year and Geelong one it first premiership in more than 40 years and they’ve won another two since.”
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