THANKS, SHEEDS

BY PETER CORNWALL

For pretty much all of this century, Jade Sheedy has been an impressive, integral part of the SANFL. One of the good guys, Sheeds will leave a remarkable legacy after announcing he will step down as Woodville-West Torrens coach after this season.

Sheedy, 43, has a long list of remarkable achievements as a star player and captain of Sturt and, most recently, dual premiership coach of the Eagles.

The 2002 Magarey Medallist told The Advertiser’s Andrew Capel: “It was an incredibly tough decision to make but I’ve run out of puff.”

Sheedy, juggling football, work and family commitments, felt he didn’t have the necessary energy to build the club’s next premiership team, with the Eagles, hard hit by player losses to the AFL and retirement over the past three years, in a transitional phase.

“I don’t think I was ever going to be one of those people who was a longterm coach, I just sort of fell into it and once I do something I give it my all,” said Sheedy, who, looking to devote more time to his construction business, Sheedy Homes, felt something had to give after juggling two jobs for four years.

His love for the Eagles made it an emotional call. “It’s been tough because you win a couple of premierships with the players and then you see the kids coming through and their development and then there’s the staff and volunteers who are great people,” Sheedy said. “I’ll miss all that but it’s time to let someone else coach this great club.”

Eagles president Christine Williams said the club respected Sheedy’s decision and was “incredibly grateful to Jade for all his hard work and dedication in leading our football program”. “Under his leadership the club achieved backto-back premierships, while an impressive 17 players were drafted to the AFL within the past four years, so we are incredibly proud of his accomplishments and positive impact on our club and wish him all the best for the future,” she said. “The club will always be indebted to Jade and his family and we would like to thank Jade’s family, Kelly, Ava, Will and Max, for their unwavering support of Jade’s involvement.”

Sheedy was one of SANFL’s top handful of players from 2000-12, an allround package of pace, ability to win the ball, outstanding foot and hand skills, while being the quintessential team man who worked hard and ran all day. Sheedy played 255 games and kicked 117 goals for Sturt and was joint winner of the 2002 Magarey Medal with team-mate Tim Weatherald when the Blues broke their 26-year premiership drought. He was best-and-fairest winner in 2004, ’06 and ’08-09 – only Double Blues royalty Rick Davies (7) and Paul Bagshaw (5) have won more. And he captained Sturt from 200712 – only Bagshaw and Chris Thredgold (eight years each) and John Halbert (seven) have been skipper for longer. His coaching record stacks up pretty well, too. He is the only coach in the history of the West Torrens, Woodville and Woodville-West Torrens clubs to have won dual premierships. Sheedy also has had a strong and successful involvement in State football. He won the Fos Williams Medal as SA’s best against WA in Perth in 2009 and captained the Croweaters. And, as coach, Sheedy guided SA to successive Haydn Bunton Jnr Cup wins against the WAFL in 2021 and ’22, part of his huge contribution to SA footy.