Last season Sheedy complained to the AFL director of umpiring Jeff Gieschen about the quality of some of the umpiring decisions. He said he would consider doing the same this week. Sheedy also hit out at those who have criticised his team's aggressive start to last weekend's match. ""I think St. Kilda do it and every other team goes about their job trying to do that sort of stuff,"" he said.
In other news from last night's training session, Sheedy said there is no denying that this Saturday’s match against West Coast at The Dome is a crucial game but believes the team takes better form into Round 3. ""Well I thought we were much more competitive on the weekend. I thought we played reasonably well but not well enough to beat St.Kilda, who are in pretty hot form. Full credit to them,"" he said.
Sheedy expects Andrew Welsh to come into the side and is forced to make one to two other changes with Mark McVeigh and Mark Johnson sidelined with injury. Sheedy hinted that Ted Richards and Brent Stanton might be recalled.
It is no secret the team has struggled to win first use of the ball in the midfield this season. ""We just have to lift in that area (midfield). That is a part of it because we don’t get first use of the ball,"" Sheedy said. ""We have to inject some newness there. Whether it is Marc Bullen, Andrew Welsh or Mark McVeigh,"" Sheedy said.
Sheedy defended Essendon’s rising injury and said the team just needs to get on with it. ""It is a bit of bad luck and we have to cope with that,"" he said. ""All the injuries are for different reasons. In Jason Johnson’s case he really got a bad knee in the back of his leg, which is where the hamstring area is. If anything, that is what really caused his injury.""
