Sheedy keeps eye on the ball
Sam Lienert, Ballarat | July 18, 2009
RICHMOND is confident Kevin Sheedy has no lingering discontent with the club over his bid for the senior coaching job, but he has refused to commit to remaining a Tigers ambassador beyond this season.
Sheedy spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since he announced last weekend that he was backing down from his much-publicised bid to take the coaching reins at Tigerland next season.
Sheedy said at the time that he felt he had "embarrassed myself and the club" by going for the job, having subsequently learnt of a past interview in which Richmond president Gary March said he would not coach the club.
Sheedy and Richmond chief executive Steven Wright spoke in Ballarat yesterday at a media conference to promote tomorrow's Eureka game against North Melbourne. But the four-time Essendon premiership coach deflected questions on whether he was unhappy with the way the situation had been handled and whether he was willing to stay on as a Richmond ambassador.
"I'm really only here to talk about this match, a most important match for Ballarat," Sheedy said when initially asked about the situation. "Don't worry about my coaching."
When asked whether he remained happy to be an ambassador for the club, he again declined to answer. "I'm very happy at 61 years of age, but you did not hear what I just said," he said.
Pressed further, he said: "It doesn't concern me that much, that's all.
"Kevin Bartlett asked me (if I was interested in the job). I said, 'yes, I would (be)'; that's how I felt. I'm not going to worry about that, that's all I want to talk about it."
Bartlett, Richmond's games record-holder and former coach, led the public push for the Tigers to consider Sheedy.
But Wright said the Tigers were confident the confusion over the coaching bid had not soured the relationship between the club and Sheedy, a three-time Richmond premiership player.
"Kevin's a great legend of our footy club, he's a member of the hall of fame, he's here today as an ambassador for the Eureka game and he will be an ambassador of the Richmond Football Club in the future, as he is now," Wright said. "Life goes on, we move on together and we're looking forward to Kevin playing a proactive role at the footy club."
He said the Richmond hierarchy did not feel there was any awkwardness that needed to be smoothed over. "Not at all. We're here for the common good of the Richmond footy club and we're working together through issues such as this Eureka game to grow the club and Kevin's fully supportive of that and we look forward to working with him," he said.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/sheedy-keeps-eye-on-ball/2009/07/17/1247337266253.html
