""I’m serious about finding five young players for the Essendon Footy Club and you wont find them sitting on the bench. You’ll find them out on the ground,"" Sheedy said.
""Last week we found five kids who put their hands up and they will all be in the first this week.""
Sheedy was referring to Kepler Bradley, Jason Laycock, Angus Monfries, Paul Thomas and particularly Brent Stanton. ""Stanton had 25 touches and kicked four goals, that’s a pretty good effort for an 18-year-old kid,"" he said.
Sheedy has no doubt the injection of youth can pay dividends for the Bombers this season and he believes his side can surprise a few of the doubters. He rates Port Adelaide, Brisbane at St Kilda as being the team’s to beat at the moment.
""We are as much a chance as any team in the top eight last year,"" he said. ""Port and Brisbane and St Kilda are just probably that little bit ahead, Geelong beat us in a final, but we are not that far off each other, so we have to see how much we improve."" Sheedy said.
It will be a much different Essendon side that goes on the road this weekend. James Hird, Matthew Lloyd and Jason Johnson all trained strongly this afternoon and will travel to Carrara along with a host of other senior players.
""It will be a very good side, just players who aren’t fit enough to play won’t play. We are probably a little underdone, but we’ll get past that,"" he said.
