Kevin Sheedy has emphatically stated that veteran midfielder Luke Power, used as a substitute in Saturday night’s 30-point loss to Gold Coast, will play against Melbourne next weekend to celebrate his 300th AFL game.

The veteran Greater Western Sydney coach’s belief that sentimentality still has a place in football remains as strong as ever after 1001 games as a player and coach in the VFL/AFL.

“He’ll (Power) run out there full-on next week (in the) starting (side) against Melbourne, who we have a good chance of beating.”

Sheedy said the decision to use Power as a sub was part of GWS strategy to see him celebrate his milestone match and join the illustrious 300 club before the end of the season.

“I’ve had him as a sub two or three times because the difficulty was when he had his ribs busted against the Swans, that would put his 300th game in jeopardy, so I’ve had to balance it out,” Sheedy said.

“So putting him (as a) sub through a couple of games was important for us to get him that 300th.”

Asked if there was still a place for sentiment in AFL, Sheedy said he believed there was.

“I do – I believe that we owe a lot to the players,” he said.

“He gets annoyed about it (being selected as a sub), and I said, ‘bad luck: I’m the coach and you’re the sub and, when you’ve got 1000 games, you can say that – because you’ve only got 299.'”