Kevin Sheedy will become the first coach to lead the Bombers into 500 games after he agreed to a new three-year deal with the club this week.

Sheedy, who will coach Essendon for the 446th time when his side tackles Sydney this Sunday afternoon, will coach his 500th game early in the 2001 season under the new agreement. This is his 19th season as coach of the club.

In agreeing to the new deal, Sheedy rejected lucrative offers from four other clubs. While rival clubs appeared the likely reason behind Sheedy leaving Windy Hill, the veteran coach said he had also considered the possibility of leaving football altogether.

Of the rival clubs bidding for his services, Richmond came very close to luring him away from Windy Hill. Sheedy played 251 games for the Tigers between 1967 and 1979 and is a life member of the club.

"Gee whiz, if you've got a son and a daughter which one do you care about," Sheedy told a packed press conference when asked about the difficulty of the decision.

He said he cared about both clubs and that was what made the decision so awkward. "It was a very time-consuming mentally for me in the past week or so - I haven't slept much. At one stage I was probably moving that way (towards leaving). I seriously considered two other offers," Sheedy said.

Sheedy spoke about the disappointment he felt when his position with the club was being questioned by some last year.

"The last time I agreed to sign a three-year contract, halfway through it there was a fair few people in this club with discrepancies about )me) stayiong through," Sheedy said.

"You just don't need that when you are making changes to the team. It's a very, very difficult and I've got no doubt that it probably unsettled the club last year and might have cost us the double chance.

Once you enter an agreement and move in that direction, whether you have or don't have problems winning games and trying to be up there and keeping your club at the top, you (must) never lack the loyalty that the position of head coach has to have.

I just felt that after being at5 a club for 19 years you can be taken for granted on too many issues and I just wanted to be sure that was sorted out."

Sheedy was flanked at the press conference by Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon and chief executive Peter Jackson - the two men charged with nutting out a deal with Sheedy's management.

McMahon gave Sheedy his unequivocal support. "I happen to come from the old-world school that believes a contract is a contract on both sides. I can't understand how coaches with a year to go on a contract are presently saying 'I'm going'. Nor can I understand clubs terminating contracts," McMahon said.