Greater Western Sydney coach Kevin Sheedy will be eternally connected to the Giants, but he still doesn’t know whether he will be coaching the fledgling AFL franchise next year.
A media conference on Wednesday featuring Sheedy was tipped to unveil the Giants coaching structure for next year, but turned out be an announcement their club champion award would be known as the Kevin Sheedy medal.
Four-time Essendon premiership coach Sheedy has piloted the club through their inaugural AFL campaign but his contract expires at the end of this season.
“We will sit down with the club over the next month or two and work that out,” Sheedy told reporters.
“That’s not a major problem as far as I am concerned really.
“People know that when I go into a club, I normally stay a while.
“I spent a long time at Richmond and a long time at Essendon. I don’t move around too much, but I want to get the job done and normally I get the job done.
“I’ve been signing contracts and headbutting people on contracts for 45 years. I let my lawyer do that.”
Sheedy, 64, said he didn’t intend leaving western Sydney for some time.
Asked how long he wanted to keep coaching the Giants, he said: “A while, just a while.
“Whether it’s a long while or a short while doesn’t matter,” he said.
Giants’ chief executive officer David Matthews said Sheedy’s reappointment was not a fait accompli, but hinted the veteran coach remained a part of the club’s long-term plans.
“We want to see Kevin Sheedy involved in this club for a long time and we just need to sit down and work out what form that takes. Has he still got the passion to coach?” Matthews said.
“We’ve just got to have those discussions. We really haven’t had them properly yet.”
Adding to the intrigue over the future of the Giants head coaching position is the presence among his assistants of Port Adelaide premiership-winning coach Mark Williams, who many have predicted will ultimately replace Sheedy.
“Mark has a contract and I don’t so he’s in a very good position at the moment,” Sheedy said.
“I’ve worked with Mark before. We both went our ways, we both went on to win premierships after he left and appeared in grand finals, so we know how to coach and how to build a coaching team.
“If he ended up with a coaching job at another club, that would be unbelievable for him.”
Sheedy was confident the Giants would rebound from their club-record 162-point thrashing to Hawthorn and be competitive against high-flying Adelaide at Sydney Showgrounds on Sunday.
“We’ll play well this week,” Sheedy said.
“We’ll play well here and we’ll make this a real little hellhole for a lot of clubs because we will cramp their style.
“We’ve got a big opportunity this week to bounce back after a dismal performance at the MCG last weekend.”
