Kevin Sheedy: I'm ready for Tigers jobGreg Denham | July 02, 2009 | The Australian
THE push to get Kevin Sheedy back to Richmond as its next senior coach exploded yesterday, with the three-time Tigers premiership player officially putting his hand up for the job.
"Do not discount me," Sheedy said. "It wouldn't be unwise (for Richmond) to talk to me."
Richmond will sound out Sheedy for the position this weekend.
Long-time teammate and AFL Hall of Fame Legend Kevin Bartlett not only urged Richmond to appoint Sheedy, but Bartlett said yesterday he would be prepared to answer any call to return to Punt Road in a non-football department role to help Sheedy.
"The club needs a shake-up and there's only one person to do that," Bartlett said on his program on Melbourne's SEN radio. "Kevin Sheedy is an extraordinary individual, he is a proven winner and the obvious is staring the club in the face."
Following denials that he wanted to coach Richmond despite recently saying he would "never say never" to coaching his second club, Sheedy yesterday admitted that the Tigers were his priority for next year.
Richmond and Sheedy, a veteran of 886 games as a player and coach, will hold informal discussions on Sunday on the Gold Coast, where Sheedy has been booked for several speaking engagements, including a Richmond sponsorship function.
Richmond officials, including general manager of football operations Craig Cameron and chief executive Steven Wright, are on the Gold Coast where they are meeting over several days to formulate Richmond's future strategies.
The Tigers host Adelaide at the Gold Coast Stadium on Saturday night.
Tomorrow is the deadline for advertised expressions of interest in the Richmond job, but Sheedy said he doubted whether he would be an applicant.
"I don't think so," he said. "I don't want to be headbutting Richmond officials and I think they should talk to everyone."
But Sheedy told The Australian he was prepared to go through Richmond's intricate process of selecting its next coach, despite his impressive 27-year coaching reign at Essendon, which expired at the end of 2007 with four premierships from 19 finals campaigns. "It doesn't worry me," Sheedy said.
Sheedy has told close friends that coaching Richmond, where he played 251 games between 1967 and 1979, won a best-and-fairest award and captained the Tigers in 1978, would be the realisation of a long-held dream.
"I'm still very capable, obviously, of coaching again," Sheedy said. "I've never lost the hunger, it was always just about best-placing it."
It is believed that the majority of Richmond's hierarchy remains open-minded over who should take over from recently retired coach Terry Wallace and interim coach Jade Rawlings, despite an outside perception that the club would target a young coach.
"We'll talk to anyone who is interested in the position," Cameron said yesterday. "We're happy for anyone interested in going through the process."
Cameron, who is a member of the coaching sub-committee, said Sheedy would have to go through the same process as all other applicants.
"Kevin is an icon of the game and one of football's great innovators, so I'm sure we'll talk to him," Cameron said.
Bartlett, who was at Richmond for Sheedy's entire playing career, including the 1969, 1973 and 1974 premierships, and who replaced him as captain in 1979, said Sheedy was the obvious choice to coach the Tigers.
"Richmond should now have eyes only for Sheedy," Bartlett said. "He's the best available coach and is the perfect fit. No one has to sell Sheedy's credentials." Bartlett, who had previously promoted Mick Malthouse for Richmond if he was not re-signed by Collingwood, which now appears a formality, said Sheedy, 61, "craved" the Richmond coaching position.
"The old Sheedy spark is back, so is the fire in the belly," Bartlett said. "After 18 months on the sidelines, and being an ambassador for the AFL, has refreshed the great coach. Richmond supporters have waited a long time for Sheedy to come back to Tigerland.
"His appointment would reinvigorate a club that has been on its knees for far too long. Confidence would immediately be restored.
"No assistant coach waiting in the wings can bring to the table what Sheedy can - experience, credibility and 27 years of being in the heat of the kitchen. There's no one out there who can compare to Sheedy. Richmond has been trying to have a crack at Kevin Sheedy for many, many years when he was at the Bombers. The obvious is now staring the club in the face."
Sheedy's desire to coach Richmond for possibly the next three years explains why he last month declined an invitation from the Tigers to be part of a sub-committee to select their next coach.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25720061-2722,00.html
