The Bombers sit outside the top eight on percentage and face a massive game against rival Collingwood this Friday night. Despite this, Sheedy is prepared to look towards the big picture for the Essendon Football Club.
""The team really in the last year has been in a decent transition. I think that it’s not too bad, we’re probably not where Geelong and West Coast are but maybe a year behind them,"" he said.
""Players like Kepler Bradley, Ricky Dyson and Jason Winderlich, they’re the boys who are going to come into our side. Structurally some players will retire at the end of the year and we have got to be ready to go.""
Despite last week’s loss to Carlton, the Bombers can take heart in the performance of 198cm debutant Jason Laycock who showed promise in terrible conditions.
""Laycock came in last week and took the best marks for the whole match on a day where you probably wouldn’t have thought he would take those marks. He’ll stay in the side this week,"" Sheedy said.
With the end of the season possibly only weeks away for Sheedy’s men, a win Friday night against the Pies has a number of permutations. Win and they are still a chance for September glory, lose and the careers of some second tier players at Windy Hill could be over.
""Some of our middle order players have got to lift and I think that is an area where we need to really work hard at,"" Sheedy said.
""They know who they are and if they don’t play well then they’ll go out of the side.""
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