Kevin Sheedy says he is happy with the role he will play in deciding Essendon’s next Coach.
The man who led the Club for 27 seasons rejoined the Bombers earlier this year after helping establish the GWS Giants.
Sheedy is one of the consultants the selection panel will use as a sounding board throughout the process.
“I have meetings with Xavier Campbell all the time about this,” Sheedy told SEN.
The Bombers Coach said regular interstate and international trips as part of his commercial development and innovation role at the Club prevented him from taking on a more active role.
Sheedy said the Bombers have assembled a strong panel including the man (Neale Daniher) he thought was going to replace him when his coaching tenure at the Club came to an end in 2007.
“He’s there, Brad Sewell’s there straight off the ground – I think that’s what you need.”
The Bombers were criticised for travelling to Adelaide to sound out John Worsfold’s coaching ambitions.
Sheedy said he saw nothing wrong with the approach.
“I was annoyed that I was in Canberra…otherwise I would have been on the plane,” he said.
“This is a war. Go and ask Carton, did they roll out a nice red carpet when they went and got Bolton.
“Has anyone actually forgotten that?
“Why go whacking away at Paul Little and the guys that got off their backside… to go and eyeball the young man (Worsfold) who has been to two Grand Finals in the last decade and see if there is a genuine interest.
“That’s what you should do if you’re running the Club.”
Sheedy said Little had done an ‘amazing’ job to lead the Club through such a difficult time without losing any major sponsors and increasing the membership base.
“I’ve been back five or six months now. The Club off the ground is unbelievably strong. The staff are amazing, I didn’t realise how good the Club was – coming out of the Giants which is a very lean sort of operation.
“The most we’ve ever had (members), they should be very proud of that… and the fans should be very proud of it too.”