“These boys will play in the game together and that is a great thing for our club and the game from an historical point of view,” Sheedy said. “We know we are in Sydney and that it is their day but I think it is really great to show everyone that a club with a bit of history and tradition can go alright in 2003.”
Essendon is using this Sunday’s game as a launching pad for a serious tilt at the pre-season title. “From our point of view we have certainly lost some experience and this Sunday we will get the chance to see some players who are very eager but we certainly have some ground to make up,” Sheedy said. “But no matter what side you take into a season your aim is to win the Premiership and that is the aim this year. 1993 really taught me that – I think we were 50-1 to win the Premiership and we did by seven goals. We are there to do a job this year – I’m not hanging about to finish sixth or eighth. A lot of people finish pain when you don’t have success.”
“I will want to give some players a good run because we are playing the Kangaroos the week after. We will have some good players sitting on the bench. We are looking forward to playing another side – after playing among yourself for a while you need to play someone else and crash into bodies other than your own,” he said.
Sheedy again praised the pre-season form of Jobe Watson. “He is a very accomplished player already but he still has plenty to learn – he has still got to go out there and play against men,” he said. “He is taller than his father, he has a good footy brain and I think every game he plays he will just get better,” he said. “I didn’t think he would be where he is at the moment – he is further advanced than I thought he would be. I have watched him closely for quite some time because we were always going to have to make a decision with the father-son rule.”
