Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy has backed champion goal kicker Matthew Lloyd in his attempt to overturn a two-match suspension handed down by the AFL tribunal on last night. Speaking before training today, Sheedy said Lloyd was not a sniper and did not go out on a football field with an intention to harm opponents.

""He’s not a player that would deliberately go out and snipe other players. He’s not that sort of person and he is not that sort of player. Over nine or 10 years and over 100 games he has been pretty well a good compliment to the game.

""I think that every time Fletcher and Lloyd go up (to the tribunal), that they are in trouble just for turning up again. There is a bit of that I suppose. I don’t know whether they feel that. The real issue is not to go up (to the tribunal), that’s the real issue, in fairness to the tribunal. Lloyds probably a bit unlucky,"" Sheedy said.

Sheedy said the Lloyd incident was nothing but an innocent action. ""I think the club feels that it was pretty much an accident. We felt probably in the end that he’s a player that, on this occasion, could be fairly harshly done by. I think a lot of people have felt that.

""In the end it’s an area where you have got a player in a splits second coming up with the ball and then all of a sudden there is an opponent. I don’t think a lot of people take them into consideration enough at times,"" Sheedy said.

""I think that it is probably really one of those areas, I mean they keep going back through slow motion, split times and it’s very difficult. I think that people make decisions and they feel that they are making the right decision.""