Making an appearance at today’s lunch was Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy who served in Puckapunyal in 1969. His national service obviously contributing to the pride he feels towards Anzac Day and it could be seen during today’s DRC function as he relived some memories with his Sargent major and warrant officer Jim Ponting.
""When you think back it is a national service day and it is pretty special,"" Sheedy said at a press conference today.
""It’s a really big thankyou to our defence forces in many ways.""
Looking ahead to the blockbuster, Sheedy acknowledged the significance of playing on such an important day in Australian history.
""It is a pretty stressful day for a lot of people but I think it is big for the players too. I think the players really enjoy getting out there and having a special occasion match in their lives because sometimes you never get to the big one, the grand final,"" he explained.
""It’s a game where you get 90,000 plus and they are very few and far between. I would say about eighty to one hundred thousand national servicemen would have played AFL or VFL footy.""
In preparation for Tuesday’s match Sheedy is conscious of the Collingwood forward line that is in terrific form and realises his defensive unit lead by Dustin Fletcher will need to be on song to combat their influence.
""Rocca is back to kicking a lot of goals and I think it was eleven in the last couple of weeks.
""And Tarrant has bubbled up again which is great for Collingwood who last year had a lot of injuries. When you have your best players injured you sort of never get a good estimation of your footy club and where it is at but I think Collingwood were a little bit worse off than us last year so they’re all back,"" Sheedy explained.
