After a four-goal and best-on-ground performance last weekend against Brisbane, Hird again proved to the Essendon faithful his uncanny ability to influence a game.
""For a player to have played like that. They are the magical moments for the fans really and that’s why I really hope that we will see a lot of fans come in the next month or so, in case they never see him play again,"" Sheedy explained in his press conference today.
""I mean once these guys retire like the Ablett’s and the Carey’s and the Hird’s, you don’t see them again. That’s it. Never again.
""That’s an excellent reason really to come and see Essendon play even if you aren’t an Essendon fan.""
""Either way you know it’s in the wind. I mean if I wasn’t Essendon coach and I barracked for Essendon, I would be making sure that I would be going to every game up to round 22.
""He’s got to make a decision for life so he needs plenty of time to work it out and he needs the extra month to see how his body holds up to see how he can play five or six games in a row.""
The club will be celebrating Hird’s career in Round 20 against Hawthorn – Essendon’s final home game of the 2006 season. But there is still a fortnight of football before then and with a renewed vibrancy around the club following the Bombers win last weekend, they will now travel to Sydney with an confidence that they can again push the Swans.
""Sydney games are pretty close encounters. We had a win against them earlier in the year of course and we haven’t won a lot of matches this year and we have played pretty consistent footy, unfortunately losing but by not very large margins,"" Sheedy explained.
""We are hoping to go up there and play very well and we have got a lot of fans up there in Sydney. And that’s encouraging that the players know that there will be a fair bit of red and black there.""
Despite winning against the reigning Premiers in round 1, Sheedy knows it will be a completely different ball game come Saturday night at the SCG.
""I think we have to start again. I mean Lloyd kicked about eight goals I think in that game and so you can minus eight goals from the score line.
""They wont be the same teams that run out there but both sides have got a lot of pride and Sydney obviously want to keep a top four opportunity there and of course we want to make sure that we perform better than what we have this year.
""The weather could be wet up there so we will be taking a team up there that can play hopefully well in those sort of inclement conditions and I think in the end the boys would like to put a bit of consistency into their form.""
To watch the full press conference on Bomber.tv click here.
