Kevin Sheedy rubbishes Derek Kickett’s claims of a ‘personal vendetta’ over his 1993 grand final omission

LEGENDARY Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy has bitten back at Derek Kickett, trashing claims he had a “personal vendetta” against the mercurial star.

Derek Kickett says Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy had a “personal vendetta” against him at the end of his time at the Bombers.

LEGENDARY Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy has dismissed accusations he had a “personal vendetta” against Derek Kickett, insisting the mercurial star wouldn’t have even been his next selection to play in the 1993 Grand Final.

Kickett was controversially dumped from the side, despite playing every other game and kicking 38 goals that season, sparking a rift between the two which has lasted almost 25 years.

Derek Kickett says Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy had a “personal vendetta” against him at the end of his time at the Bombers.

Their feud was reignited on Seven’s The Front Bar last night when Kickett launched a scathing attack on Sheedy, saying his axing was personal, not form-related.

Sheedy was initially reluctant to reopen old wounds today, but told the Herald Sun Kickett’s form was the main reason, saying he would have chosen two other Bombers ahead of him if forced to make further changes.

"Personal vendetta"

Derek Kickett opens up about his relationship with Kevin Sheedy and being dropped for that Grand Final.#TheFrontBar pic.twitter.com/z1ItsTEtGa

— AFL on 7 (@7AFL) June 22, 2017

He also revealed Carlton’s tall forward line meant the Bombers had to look at taking in an extra tall defensive back-up, in Dean Wallis.

“Everyone knows I love Derek Kickett ... I still love him, but I don’t apologise for winning the premiership by (almost) eight goals,” Sheedy said.

“On form, he didn’t deserve to be in the team. (The other two emergencies) Michael Symons and David Flood were the next two I would have selected.

“It was more about tactics than a personal vendetta. I needed some height in defence ... I had the shortest centre half back in a premiership side in Mark Harvey, and I had an 18-year-old schoolboy as my fullback.

“I had to bring in (Dean) Wallis because of Carlton’s tall forwards, and Tim Watson even went to fullback at one stage of the game.”

Dean Wallis got the nod ahead of Kickett for the 1993 grand final.

Sheedy says a fresh-faced Michael Symons and David Flood would have been picked ahead of Kickett.

After kicking eight goals in the Round 20 game against the Bulldogs, Kickett kicked only one goal in his next four games.

Kickett’s bitterness stems from the fact that the bad news came from football manager Danny Corcoran, not the coach.

“In all my footy career, I’ve never rang the team manager and said ‘am I in the footy team?’,” Kickett said.

“That week of the grand final I rang Danny Corcoran and I said ‘am I in the footy team?’ and he said ‘no’.

“Because I knew, I had a feeling that I was going to get dropped.

“That’s because Sheeds had some personal vendetta against me and it wasn’t about my injury or whatever my performance was, it was a personal vendetta, because we had a few words about three or four weeks before the Grand Final.”

Sheedy said Corcoran relayed the news before he had time to contact his player, by which stage an angry Kickett had already “skipped town.”

Sad to hear that Kevin Sheedy and Derek Kickett havent met in person to clear the air about '93 GF #thefrontbar @AFL

— Grant Turner (@GT8699) June 22, 2017

Derek Kickett just had a fair clip at Kevin Sheedy.

— Rohan (@RohanCT) June 22, 2017

Interesting words from Derek Kickett re Sheeds and 93' GF on @thefrontbar7

— Dan Serrano (@dfs79) June 22, 2017

Derek Kickett on The Front Bar. Some of those highlights bring back magnificent childhood memories. What a bloody legend 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

— Ronny Lerner (@RonnyLerner) June 22, 2017

Kickett said he had tried to make contact with Sheedy a number of times in the years since, but his advances had been unsuccessful.

“I’ve rang him a few times and I’ve got my associate here in Melbourne to ring him a few times and spoken to him a few times and he said he doesn’t want to speak to me,” Kickett said.

“So whatever reason he’s got, maybe he’s hiding something that I don’t know that the public should know?”

But, in a column for the Herald Sun in 2008, Sheedy wrote he had reached out to Kickett.

“I’ve asked Derek on three occasions whether he wanted to speak about the issue and each time he’s said: ‘I’m not ready.’,” Sheedy wrote.

“He may never be ready, but at least I’m asking, because I think it’s time.

“I’ll never be awful to him. I don’t believe you have to play all of the footballers who have played in every match if that’s not right for that team.

“Derek Kickett got dropped. It was bad luck”

Kickett never played another game for the Bombers, and ended up finishing his 152-game career with Sydney.

Sheedy’s baby Bombers would defeat Carlton in the grand final in 1993.

Originally published as Kevin Sheedy rubbishes Derek Kickett’s claims of a ‘personal vendetta’ over his 1993 grand final omission