Get Nathan Buckley not Kevin Sheedy says Rex Hunt
Sam Edmund | July 03, 2009 01:06pm
REX Hunt has scoffed at the prospect of Kevin Sheedy coaching Richmond, saying his old Tiger teammate was too old to take the reins.
Sheedy put his hand up for the Tigers' job earlier this week, saying his record spoke for itself.
Hunt, who played with Sheedy at Punt Rd from 1968 to 1974, said this morning that the former Essendon mastermind and league legend was past it and nominated Nathan Buckley as the prime candidate.
"I'm also a realist. Time passes us all by and particularly this game - it is a relentless and ruthless game," Hunt said.
Hunt, speaking on radio 3AW, said Richmond was "on its knees" and as bad it was when Terry Wallace took over as coach in 2005.
"The thing about it is, I want to point out one thing to the Carlton Football Club from a Richmond point of view," he said.
"They've got (Chris) Judd, the best player in the competition along with Gary Ablett. Three No.1 draft picks got them (Bryce) Gibbs, (Marc) Murphy and (Matthew) Kreuzer and last week they were embarrassed to such an extent that they made eight changes and people were calling for the sacking of Brendan Fevola and that sort of thing.
"Richmond is bleeding uncontrollably and it would be just like a spout that has little bubbles on it and putting paint over the top and saying, 'Gee, this looks fantastic', but next winter it peels off and looks absolutely shizenhousen.
"It's going to be another five years before we can get some good kids to come in and complement the people that play their guts out for Richmond."
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Hunt said Sheedy would be far better suited to a mentor role at the club, guiding a young coach.
"Sheeds has to be a father figure, similar to what Alan Jeans did when Ross Smith took over as coach, similar to what Norm Smith did with Ron Barassi," he said.
"You've got to get an understudy in there and say, 'Take over this group and away you go'. It was like what Barassi did for Sydney and then Rodney Eade took over and the next year they made a Grand Final.
"I would not have him (Sheeds) as the main coach. I would certianly have him right behind the match committee. I would go straight out and get Nathan Buckley and convince him that this is one of the great clubs in the history of the VFL/AFL, we're on our knees, we need the best, we believe youre the best and you're the man to help us get back on top."
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