In a lot of ways it really shouldn’t have ended like this.
After 251 games as an AFL player, another 679 as coach, winning seven premierships along the way, Kevin Sheedy finally reached the end of his football career on Sunday.
He did it at the helm of a Sydney-based expansion club which had just been belted by 83 points by another expansion club on the Gold Coast in front of 13,080 fans.
History will note Sheedy’s final game as a coach meant he took out the 2013 wooden spoon with a GWS team that could only manage one win all year.
But while the 65-year-old will be leaving the game, it seems unlikely the game will ever leave him.
He also leaves proud he took up the challenge to help establish the Giants, when his legacy in the game was already assured.
“A lot of people lack the courage to be creative,” he said.
“I hope I’ve never done that.
“Finding new talent and working with people that have talent that can’t get the best out of themselves is a great challenge … that’s one of the better things.”