“He will play against St Kilda and we will take the four points against St Kilda as the most crucial four points,” Sheedy explained. “I’m glad he never retired because a lot of people wanted him to retire, but the coach didn’t so he has helped us win two games and nearly win three.
“And we would be doing a disservice to our fans and also football in general if Hird didn’t play, and it would be an absolute insult to St Kilda that we are kidding ourselves.
“We have got two very proud clubs competing in this match, and we are trying to find the best team that is going to help us get somewhere in the next year or two at this club, so Hird is selected to play, simple as that.
“There is not even a question mark that he wouldn’t have played.
And after a devastating loss to Carlton last week, Sheedy wants the Bombers to atone for their disappointing performance and be prepared to go out and play consistent football in all four quarters against St Kilda.
“It was a very frustrating loss for me,” Sheedy said.
“Personally I have been feeling the worst I have felt for a long time. We should have won the game but we lost and Carlton showed a lot of courage in coming back.
“I think in the end when you look at our season we have probably played 11 quarters really well out of 12 so you can’t be too harsh on the players. But we need to be harsh enough to let them know that it cost us four points and we will want to redeem ourselves.”
While there was a suggestion that Courtney Johns may make his return for the Bombers this week after impressing in the VFL last weekend, Sheedy has ruled out Jason Johnson for the match.
“He won’t play. He will play in the VFL,” Sheedy said.
“He is not going to go down the path of what we did last year, bringing him back too early which hurt his confidence and belief systems. I am not going to go down that way again so he will play in the VFL.”
Sheedy also ruled out Scott Camporeale, preferring to give him another run in the VFL this week before putting him in contention for selection.
