‘I’m not well’: Kevin Sheedy is sick but still passionate about the Giants, Swans … and Folau

Along with the sun setting on the SCG during the last session of a Test match, party pies after the last race at Royal Randwick and the panther growl played at Penrith matches, Kevin Sheedy is my favourite thing in Australian sport.

Never heard him whinge. Never heard him criticise another code. Never heard him claim AFL is better. His enthusiasm and optimism are rare attributes in the often caustic world of sport.

In 2011, I shadowed him at the AFL Draft Combine when, as the GWS Giants’ inaugural coach, he was eyeing off future stars such as Stephen Coniglio and Toby Greene.

Sheedy, a four-time premiership coach with Essendon, was in a trance. He wanted to know the story of every young footballer who came into his field of vision, even if he had no intention of signing them. He cares.

Sadly, the 76-year-old wasn’t his usual chirpy self when I phoned him earlier this week.

“I’m not well, son,” he said from a hospital bed on the Sunshine Coast.

Sheedy fell ill and needed urgent medical attention while visiting family in Queensland a couple of weeks ago. He disclosed the nature of the illness to me, but I’ll leave it to him to talk publicly about his health.

Instead of hurrying me off the phone, he wanted to talk about the qualifying final between the Sydney Swans and the Giants at the SCG next Saturday.

“I’m proud of both clubs,” Sheedy said. “I had the opportunity to coach Sydney when Dr Geoffrey Edelsten was there in the 1980s, but I didn’t – I stayed at Essendon. They’ve done an incredible job, but so have the Giants over the past 12 years. They’ve given kids in Sydney’s west and southern NSW a chance to play in the AFL. The Battle of the Bridge is still battling. It’s just warming up.”

And what of Israel Folau, who earlier this week told the Ebbs and Flows podcast what we suspected all along: that his defection from the NRL to the AFL for $6 million was solely about money and that his parents had pushed him into it?

“I didn’t want to do it,” Folau told the podcast. “The main reason why I went to AFL was purely just to help my family financially. I went back and forth with my parents and particularly my old man. I didn’t want to go. It was something I just never wanted to do. I wrestled with that for a long time, but at the end of the day the money was too good to refuse, and I went purely on that one choice.”

Folau left after just one AFL season in 2012, but Sheedy held no grudges — then nor now.

“Israel is one of the nicest people I’ve met in my life,” he said. “He bought his parents a home. How many players do that? I thought he’d make it. He just didn’t give himself enough time.”

Get well, Sheeds. We all need you.

Music to Gallagher’s ears

Still on Sheedy, is the great man responsible for getting Oasis back together? Is he the reason Noel and Liam Gallagher announced this week they had patched things up and their legendary Manchester band would be touring next year?

As Giants chief executive Dave Matthews revealed on the BackChat podcast last year, he and Sheedy were in a suite at Etihad Stadium for Manchester City’s derby against Manchester United some years ago.

Matthews was told lead singer and Man City fan Liam Gallagher would likely be in attendance. They were forbidden from asking for a photo and about Gallagher’s estranged brother, Noel, also a City fan.

“How’s your brother going?” Sheedy asked Liam when they were introduced, much to the astonishment of those in earshot.

“I’ll tell you how he’s going,” Gallagher replied. “He’s in a box over there with Tom Cruise and I’m here with you, you geezer … We’re getting a lot of money to get back together and play again.”

“I don’t care about your music,” Sheedy said. “I don’t even know it. Life’s short. Build a bridge with your brother. It’s a huge mistake you’re making.”

“I’ve engaged five lawyers and I’m paying them a lot of money and nobody has given me advice as good as that,” Gallagher said.

He then asked Sheedy for a photo.

Lesson learned? It’s hard to Trell

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Latrells of Our Lives.

Mercifully, the never-ending soap opera surrounding the South Sydney fullback and the white-substance scandal came to a close on Thursday when he was slapped with a $100,000 fine ($80,000 suspended) from his club and $20,000 plus a one-match ban from the NRL.

It took the Souths board three days to arrive at their punishment – which, despite denials, is further evidence of growing fractures within the club.

There has been plenty of finger-pointing and cranky text-message exchanges between Souths and NRL officials throughout the process.

Much of the tension has been around when Mitchell must serve his one-match ban, whether it’s this season or round one next year. There’s talk he’ll be declared fit to play for the final match of the season against the Roosters next Friday.

I would’ve thought when the ban was served was secondary to the more pressing issue of getting your highest-paid player to act like he’s your highest-paid player, which includes not being photographed with white substances in Dubbo hotel rooms while sidelined with injury (people seem to forget that bit) or swearing like a wharfie in Triple M interviews.

The smirk on Mitchell’s face as he left Heffron Park on Tuesday, then a banal Instagram post about being a better version of himself, makes you wonder if he can.

Monumental mistake

The Wallabies have prepared for their away match against Argentina on Sunday morning (AEST) by soaking up the atmosphere at a River Plate game in front of 80,000 delirious fans at El Monumental in Buenos Aires.

As someone who has watched Los Millonarios at the famous slab of concrete, I must ask coach Joe Schmidt … why? It’s like watching Jaws before a marathon ocean swim.

Spectators are aggressively padded down by police as they enter the stadium. Authorities aren’t looking for the drugs several fans were hoovering in the men’s toilets before kick-off but projectiles that can be thrown at players, fans and the referee.

I was told an elderly spectator once threw his false teeth at the ref in frustration. I suppose that’s better than a full bottle of Coke Zero.

Rival fans sitting in a fenced section secured with barbed wire were greeted with throat-slitting gestures from River Plate supporters mouthing “muerte”. Translation: death.

The Pumas are a streaky team, beating the All Blacks one week before losing the next, but they feed off their home crowd.

The Wallabies play them at a smaller stadium in La Plata south of the capital, but you suspect the atmosphere will be only slightly less foreboding.

THE QUOTE

“Not to get arrested.” — A 12-year-old Las Vegas Raiders fan when asked what it would take for his side to have a successful NFL season. A handful of Raiders players past and present have been arrested for DUI and drug possession charges in the past year.

THUMBS UP

Who knows if it will work out, let alone spark some interest in the A-League, but Sydney FC’s shock signing of Brazilian international Douglas Costa is a coup for the domestic league. The former Bayern Munich and Juventus star arrives following challenging stints at LA Galaxy and Brazilian powerhouse Fluminense.

THUMBS DOWN

Shameful scenes after the fight between Michael Zerafa and Tommy Browne on Wednesday night. After Browne retired on his stool with a biceps injury after one round, Zerafa started mouthing off at Browne’s trainer, Tommy Mercuri, who was then king hit by Zerafa’s brother. Police are investigating. Why would anyone pay to watch this gibber?

It’s a big weekend for … emerging Australian star Alexei Popyrin, who meets Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open on Saturday morning (AEST). At the time of writing, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson were yet to play their second-round matches.

It’s an even bigger weekend for … Australia’s 160 athletes who will compete in 17 of the 22 Paralympic sports in Paris over the next week or so. I’m particularly keen to see how Australian table tennis star Ma Lin performs. A bear chewed off his arm at a zoo in China in the mid-1990s but, as he told me at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, “I’m more scared of sharks because I like to dive.”

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