Richmond blew chance for Kevin SheedyPatrick Smith | July 13, 2009 | The Australian
FOOTBALL, of any code, is a peculiar animal. A mass of illogical pantings, unshakeable loyalty. Supporters blind to reality, businessmen with an eye to a deal. Football collects them all and somehow finds an order to it.
Each code has its quirks. Rugby league is made up of men with weak bladders and loose bowels. Soccer is a disparate swag of egos who masquerade as a team only at kick-off. And the AFL has its presidents, men who take up an inordinate amount of media space as spokesmen on just about everything and occasionally their team.
It might be an idiosyncratic role but it is an important one. The AFL's traditional volatility where, at any given time, a statutory three clubs confess to impending bankruptcy, has seen that to survive you must be ruthless and to be heard you must shout.
Some presidents adapt to this desperate environment. At Collingwood Eddie McGuire is part way to his stated aim of Collifying the world. Some presidents don't adapt. We have not heard a word, not a squeak, not a warble from St Kilda president Greg Westaway since he questioned the alcohol and naughty drug intake of the previous board.
Gary March runs Richmond. He would rather not be seen or heard. That is difficult when you lead a club with the combustible profile of the Tigers and have a chief executive in Steven Wright who took a vow of silence on appointment.
March is not comfortable with the media. He is not practised in the ways of deflection and distraction. He is not subtle. To make a point he uses a lance where others might use a needle. And that is why Kevin Sheedy will not coach Richmond. It is why the four-time premiership coach withdrew his application for the job on the weekend. An out-take from an early season interview was shown on Channel Nine's The Footy Show last Thursday night in which March said that Sheedy would not be entertained as a coach for the club. While March's position in that interview was made public previously by Nine reporter Craig Hutchison, Sheedy - until The Footy Show - was oblivious to it. It was the first time Sheedy had been made aware of any suspicions or doubts March might have had about his future at the club.
Unsurprisingly, Sheedy saw the comments as a slight. He felt he could no longer trust the appointment process as outlined to him by Richmond management, including general manager of football, Craig Cameron, and football director Tony Free. So just as Sheedy's campaign was gathering momentum, he pulled out. The Sunday Herald Sun reported his decision yesterday.
Sheedy rang Cameron on Saturday night as the Tigers celebrated their past 50 years, a half-century that included Richmond's sustained dominance that collected five premierships from 1967 to 1980. It was an evening when support for Sheedy's return to the club as coach was conspicuous.
Club and AFL legend Kevin Bartlett, who had enthusiastically supported Sheedy's intention to seek the coaching position, said yesterday that everybody was a loser following his former premiership teammate's decision.
"At the very least Kevin's record as coach, his knowledge and experience, would have put everybody's applications into perspective," Bartlett said.
Bartlett called for the club to encourage Sheedy's involvement after satisfying himself that the former Essendon coach was wholehearted in his determination to help rebuild the Richmond team. Before going to air with his morning Hungry For Sport program on SEN radio on 1 July, Bartlett spoke to Sheedy to confirm that he wanted the Richmond job.
Only after Sheedy confirmed his eagerness - which underlined Bartlett's belief that the coach had been revitalised since leaving Essendon at the end of 2007 - did Bartlett announce his support for one of Richmond's much-loved former champions.
"The club needs a shake-up and there's only one person to do that," Bartlett said on SEN. "Kevin Sheedy is an extraordinary individual, he is a proven winner and the obvious is staring the club in the face."
It is unlikely now that Sheedy will continue in his ambassadorial role at the club, though, such is his generosity of spirit, he may well contribute when asked. On Saturday he was busy wooing the NSW government for a contribution to the AFL's western Sydney project and yesterday flew to Fiji for a speaking engagement. His energy and enthusiasm cannot be questioned.
Nobody should wear the blame alone for Sheedy's withdrawal. March's early season comments were made when no one considered Sheedy a likely candidate and the tenure of coach Terry Wallace was continually being questioned. March sought to stabilise the club and Wallace's authority by denying Sheedy was under consideration as a replacement. March's comments though carried an emphasis borne of media naivety.
That Channel Nine did not think enough of March's observations to run with them at the time shows how unlucky March is that they have rebounded to harm him and the Tigers now. Nonetheless, a president more at ease in front of a camera - and not fearful that he must always sound strong and in control - would have suggested that no one was being considered because Wallace was the coach.
March sought to clarify his position last week. He denied a report that he had previously told Sheedy personally that he would not get the job, said he welcomed Sheedy's interest in the position and explained the context of his early season comments to Channel Nine.
But when Sheedy caught up with the comments on The Footy Show he felt betrayed by his old club. It was the first and very last indication to Sheedy that his bid to be the next coach of Richmond was compromised.
Sheedy is an extraordinary personality, veering in so many directions at any given time, that it makes the man unpredictable to the point of frustration. Essendon was not clever enough to handle his departure with dignity and Richmond has flunked its opportunity to secure his arrival. But he continues to be one of the most influential characters in the game's history.
He had been impressed with the sincerity of Free and Cameron and both Richmond men, charged with establishing the protocols for finding the new coach, were excited by Sheedy's commitment. The pity now, of course, is that this Richmond administration will never know whether Sheedy was the right man for the job.
And that was the very least it owed its members.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25769785-12270,00.html
