Much to the dismay of the Essendon faithful, Kevin Sheedy today revealed that he would not be encouraging James Hird to play on next year, despite regarding his recent performances as some of the best the Bomber champion has exhibited in years.

“I’ve already done it once and I just don’t know whether I should go back and do that again,” Sheedy said.

“Admittedly he is having a cracking year the way he is playing so far but that extra year can make the difference between whether you play really, really well or just play.

“I think he feels that too and despite playing excellent footy so far this season, I know he has said that this will be his last year and I think we should respect it.”

Hird has not played against Port Adelaide since Round 1 2004, and Sheedy believes that he will be a key ingredient in the Bomber’s ability to pull off the win interstate.

And regardless of Port Adelaide’s four match losing streak, Sheedy has reiterated to the media that the Bombers will not take the Power lightly given their past playing history, and in particular, their record interstate.

“We haven’t played that well against them in the past but there are a lot of players that didn’t play against Port last year,” Sheedy said.

“We have different bookends and a different midfield with Winderlich and Laycock and those sorts of players.

“But that being said, we are not underestimating them at all. Mark Williams will know what to do. He is a pretty astute coach.”

Sheedy believes the Bombers’ impressive recent performances have given his players a lift psychologically, seeing them head into the match with four consecutive wins compared to Port Adelaide’s consecutive losses in the same number of weeks.

“The players are getting some sort of pride back about their performances and I think we lost a bit of that last year and in turn lost confidence within ourselves but our recent form is beginning to reverse that.

“You could say that it is not the best time to take on Port Adelaide with it being (Warren) Tredrea’s 200th game, but the players have hit a stage where they are really starting to get that confidence back where they know they can play really good footy against the best teams.

“I think that counts for something and I think from that point of view, the players will be really consistent from a competitive angle.”