Kevin Sheedy reveals the greatest Essendon players he’s coached

Kevin Sheedy has coached some of the best Essendon teams in history. But who makes his ultimate team? See who the legendary coach has picked ahead of the club’s 150th anniversary.

Kevin Sheedy argued for 20 years to increase the interchange numbers to four, so naming six on the bench in his best Essendon team shouldn’t be a surprise.

“The AFL selected its Team of the Century in 1996 and only picked three on the bench – and they left out Bartlett,” Sheedy said, shaking his head at the lack of foresight from headquarters.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE SHEEDY’S TEAM BELOW

Sheedy ensured he wouldn’t make the same misjudgment when picking a team from the players he coached at Essendon from 1981 to 2007.

Asked to choose Essendon’s best team from every player who represented the Bombers over the past 150 years – as part of this weekend’s celebration – Sheedy said he couldn’t compare, for example, Matthew Lloyd and Albert Thurgood, the club’s first champion in the 1890s.

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Who makes the list of the greatest Bombers players Kevin Sheedy's coached?

“It’s too hard and I can’t disrespect those players who I didn’t see,’’ he said.

The club announced its Team of the Century in 1997.

Sheedy’s team is effectively the best team of the past half a century.

Of the past champs, he missed seeing John Coleman and Dick Reynolds and vaguely remembers Bill Hutchison.

Of his players, he says Lloyd and Scott Lucas “don’t get spoken about enough, and nor does Paul Salmon”.

“They were great players,’’ he said.

He noted the greatest players he coached were Tim Watson, Gavin Wanganeen, Simon Madden, James Hird and Neale Daniher.

Tim Watson and coach Kevin Sheedy celebrate the 1984 grand final win.

“Hird was the best player, narrowly from Watson and Wanganeen,’’ he said.

And his favourite?

“Terry Daniher was a great captain, everyone loved Terry and I always thought Harvey, Wallis and Merrett were exceptional because they got the best out of themselves.

“Neale Daniher was a superstar. I rate him nearly as good as Hird and Watson. I appointed him captain after one year.

“Longy was different altogether. He was a leader of people and is still doing it.”

He listed Dean Rioli, Wanganeen and Long as giants at Essendon.

“Our club has done a lot to open up doors for a lot of different young people coming through,’’ the four-time premiership coach said.

Kevin Sheedy coached Essendon between 1981 and 2007.

Wanting to recognise key people in his reign, Sheedy named former player Ron Evans, who would become the AFL chairman, as chief executive of his team and the recently deceased Bruce Reid as the doctor.

“It’s sad Reidy won’t be there this weekend,’’ Sheedy said.

“He’s probably the best recruit I had. He connected with everyone. He was a superstar person, as was his whole family.

“He and Ian Reynolds (doctor) were two of the greatest recruits ever.”

He said Essendon was one of the oldest sporting clubs in the world.

“Most young people in Australia, when they read this, will not believe our rules were written about the same time as the Civil War in America was happening,’’ he said.

“Hundreds of thousands of people were dying there and here we had a rugby person and three or four of his mates at the MCC Hotel in Wellington St, Melbourne, writing the rules of the VFA, VFL and the AFL. It’s an incredible story.”

The Bombers have planned a pre-game extravaganza against Carlton on Friday night where they hope a crowd of 80,000-plus will attend.

Originally published as Kevin Sheedy reveals the greatest Essendon players he’s coached