Sheedy watched intently as the Bombers edged clear of Carlton. Jack Clarke had kicked a goal and the club captain was again starring for Essendon. The game was going perfectly to plan for the Bombers until rugged Carlton defender Vasil Varlamos collided with Clarke. The Carlton defenders’ actions were crude at best and Clarke was hurt as a result. The Essendon faithful went mad and were baying for blood.
“The crowd were furious with what he had done,” Sheedy recalled. “I was only 14-years-old at the time and I was incensed. I remember thinking to myself how I would love to get him back. Here I was at such a young age thinking I would get Varlamos.”
Five years passed and Sheedy was playing at Prahran. By this time Varlamos had finished his VFL career and was playing VFA football for Waverley. Sheedy hadn’t forgotten what he saw happen to Clarke five years earlier and Prahran were due to play Waverley in two weeks time. “The Richmond recruiting staff wanted me to come down and play but I wanted to put it off for a couple of weeks,” Sheedy said. “I was determined to get out on the ground with Varlamos.”
So Sheedy lay in wait. He told baffled Richmond recruiters that he would be down at Punt Road in a couple of weeks time. “They couldn’t work out why I was putting it off but I had my reasons,” Sheedy said. But after waiting five years to make up for what had happened to Jack Clarke, Sheeds never got his chance. Varlamos tore his hamstring leading up to the match against Prahran and didn’t play. “It was a bit disappointing,” Sheedy smirked.
Sheeds eventually headed to Richmond Football Club. Clarke was in his last season for the Bombers and Sheeds was hopeful of being a part of the senior side so he could play on his boyhood idol. Unfortunately Sheeds struck out again. “I was dropped from the senior side to play Essendon but it didn’t matter in the end because Jack had been dropped as well – another near miss,” Sheedy said.
As a footnote to the Varlimos incident, Sheedy recalled a shaken Clarke getting to his feet and throwing punches at the nearest player. That player was 20-year-old teammate Graeme Johnston.
""It had been a very tough game and it was towards the end when Varlamos cleaned up Jack - it was very ordinary what he did,"" Johnston said. ""I went over to Jack to pick him up and he got to his feet and he started throwing punches at me. He had no idea what had happened and he just started swinging. I don't think he was ever quite the same after that collision.""
