You are currently logged in to Club Exclusive access
SHEEDY: NO EXPECTATIONS
The Bombers will be without James Hird and Matthew Lloyd for another week when they take on Melbourne at Colonial Stadium on Friday night. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy doesn’t expect the pair to best at their best when they return and will probably play them off the bench. “You might have them in your team but I am not quite sure if I will have the highest expectations in the first week or two. But that is the nature of the beast when you get long term injuries. They are out for sort of six, seven, eight or nine weeks - you can't expect them to turn up and say I am James Hird and I am Matthew Lloyd and I can play at my best. It is very, very difficult, so for the first two or three weeks - it will be like an ordinary player coming in off the bench,” Sheedy said.
The Bombers will be without James Hird and Matthew Lloyd for another week when they take on Melbourne at Colonial Stadium on Friday night. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy doesn’t expect the pair to best at their best when they return and will probably play them off the bench. “You might have them in your team but I am not quite sure if I will have the highest expectations in the first week or two. But that is the nature of the beast when you get long term injuries. They are out for sort of six, seven, eight or nine weeks - you can't expect them to turn up and say I am James Hird and I am Matthew Lloyd and I can play at my best. It is very, very difficult, so for the first two or three weeks - it will be like an ordinary player coming in off the bench,” Sheedy said.
Q. With regard to Hird - is the latest surgeons advice another week? A. I would have thought it was a week.
Q. What about Lloyd? A. Lloyd wouldn't be within the next week or two. I don't know how rapidly a hand improves and a finger improves after you have had it in a cast for that long and in an up-right position. They are fiddly little injuries but they make an impact.
Q. Has it taken longer than everyone originally thought? A. I think it is because no one has ever had it before. We have hardly ever had one of those injuries in my time at the club - maybe one. It is very hard to judge and I think we have done the right thing by the player from that point of view.
Q. Just from your observation - how is he moving on the ground? A. Okay - a bit gingerly. When you see Matthew Lloyd running out and taking one hand grabs and kicking the ball very well it is terrific. But at the moment he is running and receiving handball trainer at the moment and he is like a champion race horse running along with a pony beside it at the moment - trying to keep it happy on the track.
With recent speculation of Wayne Carey returning to AFL football next year, Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said Essendon had not discussed the possibility of the 31-year-old coming to Windy Hill and believes the football public should let the fallen football star get on with his life. “It is a shame people just jump on a person when they have gone through a tough period in their life - everyone mucks up.You see the President of the United States, Prince Charles and now Wayne Carey - and it looks like Wayne Carey is the worst one of everyone,” Sheedy said.
