Kevin Sheedy recalls the story behind his famous jacket wave

Kevin Sheedy was watching nervously with less than a minute on the clock and Essendon needing a goal to beat West Coast. What happened next led an iconic moment and created a tradition.

Kevin Sheedy could barely look.

Sitting in the old MCG coaches’ box, decked out in a shirt and tie, he wondered if his team's season fate lay in the hands of a player dealing with a case of the goalkicking yips.

There was less than a minute left on the clock when Essendon forward Paul Salmon had the ball in his hands – as well as the destiny of the club's Round 16 1993 clash with West Coast – after receiving a free kick following a Glen Jakovich infringement.

The Baby Bombers Mark II trailed by four points. Salmon had kicked 0.3 and looked even more nervous as he came in to take his kick.

“He had the yips, you don't have to tell me about that … I was the coach," Sheedy said of Salmon, with a chuckle when reflecting back on a game that would become famous for his post-game celebration as much as the game itself.

“He (Salmon) was a great player for us, but some guys go through that sort of (goalkicking) stuff.”

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Kevin Sheedy waving his jacket after that win against West Coast in 1993.

The Bombers were seventh on the ladder, and desperately needed a win to stay in touch with the pack.

Thankfully for the Bombers, for the 44,507 fans in attendance, and for Sheedy and Salmon, the kick sailed through the middle at the city end to give the Bombers a two-point lead they would desperately cling on to in the dying moments.

It was in that moment Sheedy first thought this young side that had been beaten by Hawthorn by 160 points the previous August might be a serious flag hope.

His excitement could barely be contained as he walked down the aisles towards the rooms.

Instinctively, and without any pre-planning, Sheedy started wildly waving his jacket around above his head, creating a footy tradition out of a stirring last-minute win.

“I got a little bit excited that day,” he recalled.

“I just walked out (of the coaches' box) and did it without even thinking."

“It was an unbelievable win. West Coast had won the flag the year before and we were a team that sort of came out of nowhere.

“It (the jacket wave) sort of took off after that.”

Sheedy with the jacket in 2000.

In subsequent Essendon-West Coast matches, the winning team's fans turned the stadiums into jacket waving affairs, which always brought about a Sheedy smile, regardless of the result.

The young Bombers went on to win the 1993 premiership flag 10 weeks later, with Sheedy still marvelling at how young side achieved what it did back then.

“I don't anyone thought we would win the flag that year, but it goes to show that anything can happen in footy,” he said.

So where is the jacket now? Sheedy says businessman Kerry Stokes purchased it at a charity auction years ago.

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