Kevin Sheedy is Richmond’s next Homecoming Hero for the 2024 season.
The Tigers will pay tribute to Sheedy in the lead-up to Sunday’s twilight clash with Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.
Sheedy will walk to the Punt Road end, where he’ll receive the plaudits of the Tiger Army.
He’ll then kick a ceremonial goal, while highlights of his superb playing career are shown on the MCG’s screens.
Richmond recruited Sheedy from VFA club Prahran, where he had been a star centreman.
Sheedy’s arrival at Tigerland was steeped in controversy.
He had made his senior debut with Prahran at just 16 years of age and shown considerable promise.
With his home located in Melbourne’s metropolitan zone, Sheedy received, and accepted, an invitation to try out with the Demons.
But after playing a few practice matches at Melbourne, Sheedy opted to return to Prahran, and he went on to be a key member of the club’s VFA second division premiership team in 1966.
Richmond then became extremely interested in securing Sheedy’s services and approached Melbourne for permission to speak with him.
That was duly granted, and Sheedy subsequently agreed to join the Tigers.
There was a catch, however, because although Prahran agreed to release him, the VFA refused to grant his clearance because of a disagreement with the VFL at the time over transfer fees.
Sheedy moved to Richmond minus a clearance and, without the transfer fee of $5000 being paid, incurred an automatic five-year suspension from the VFA as a result.
He lined up with the Tigers for the first time at senior level against Fitzroy at the MCG on Saturday, April 29, 1967, in what turned out to be a drought-breaking Tiger premiership season.
Richmond won a scrappy encounter that day by 25 points, with Sheedy a handy contributor in the centre as a replacement for injured Tiger star Bill Barrot, picking up 18 disposals and taking three marks.
Unfortunately for Sheedy, he managed only another five senior appearances for Richmond in 1967 with his season finishing prematurely due to a serious knee injury, thereby depriving him of the opportunity to be part of the Tigers’ glorious premiership triumph.
The following year Richmond coach Tommy Hafey came up with a masterstroke move, shifting Sheedy into a back pocket to mind the opposition’s resting rovers.
Sheedy, with his toughness, fierce determination and discipline, combined with good skills, quickly developed into one of the best smaller defenders in the competition.
He gained Victorian State selection for the first time in 1969 as a back pocket and starred in the role for the next three years.
At half-time of the 1972 Grand Final, with Richmond trailing Carlton by 45 points in a goalscoring blitz, Hafey came up with another inspired move with Sheedy, switching him to an on-ball role as a ruck-rover.
Sheedy showed good signs throughout the second half of the ’72 premiership-decider, which the Tigers lost by 30 points.
He subsequently became a a top-class ruck-rover, producing two of his very best performances in Richmond’s back-to-back Grand Final victories of 1973-74.
When the Tigers turned the table on Carlton in the 1973 Grand Final, it was Sheedy who lit the fuse, kicking all three of the team’s first-quarter goals and finishing with 24 disposals, five marks and the three goals in a dynamic display.
A year later, when Richmond made it back-to-back flags by decisively defeating North Melbourne in the ’74 Grand Final, it again was Sheedy who led the way for the Tigers.
Had there been a Norm Smith Medal handed out that day for best afield in the Grand Final (the inaugural one wasn’t until 1979), there’s every likelihood it would have gone to Sheedy, who had a game-high 29 disposals, took six marks and booted two goals.
There was one moment in the ’74 premiership-decider that encapsulated what Sheedy was all about as a player.
It came during the second quarter with North Melbourne having seized the initiative and opened up a two-goal lead.
With the crowd getting right behind them, the underdog Kangaroos’ confidence was soaring, and they seemed set to build substantially on their advantage.
But just when the situation was starting to look grim for Richmond, wily Tiger Kevin Sheedy stepped up to conjure the most audacious act of trickery ever seen in a League Grand Final.
The ball was kicked deep into Richmond’s forward line, where Sheedy bobbed up to take a clever mark right next to the behind post.
Degree of difficulty for the shot at goal was severe, but if ever his team needed a six-pointer, this was it.
So, the crafty Sheedy hatched a plan that ultimately revived Richmond’s seemingly flagging fortunes and knocked the stuffing right out of the Roos.
Sheedy was a picture of concentration, with his head steady over the ball, as he ran in to take the crucial kick for goal from the tight angle.
At the last second, however, Sheedy stunned the crowd of 113,839 by handballing over the head of his North Melbourne opponent on the mark, Brad Smith, to Tiger teammate, Michael Green, who was unguarded on the goal line.
Green dribbled through the easiest goal you could ever see . . . and the pendulum swung completely back Richmond’s way after that.
The Tigers went on to record a 41-point victory and capture their ninth league football premiership.
Sheedy would go on to win the Jack Dyer Medal in 1976 and captain the Club in 1978, before retiring as a player the following year.
It had been a stellar career by a player renowned as one of the shrewdest to have ever participated at the game’s highest level.
Richmond is proud to have welcomed back Motorola as partner of our Homecoming Heroes. Motorola is the official smartphone partner of the Richmond Football Club.
Kevin Sheedy profile
Born: December 24, 1947
Height: 180cm
Playing weight: 81kg
Recruited to Richmond from: Prahran (VFA)
Guernsey number at Richmond: No. 10
Debut at Richmond: Round 3, 1967 v Fitzroy, MCG
Games at Richmond (1967-79): 251
Goals at Richmond: 91
Honours at Richmond: Triple premiership player (1969, 1973, 1974), Jack Dyer Medal winner (1976), Club captain (1978), Richmond Team of the Century member, Tigers Hall of Fame inductee
Richmond's Homecoming Heroes since 2014...
| 2014, Rd 2: Michael Green | 2014, Rd 4: Kevin Bartlett | 2014, Rd 6: Bryan Wood |
| 2014, Rd 13: Kevin Morris | 2014, Rd 14: Wayne Walsh | 2014, Rd 16: Barry Richardson |
| 2014, Rd 19: Rex Hunt | 2014, Rd 20: Francis Bourke | 2015, Rd 2: Bill Barrot |
| 2015, Rd 5: Andrew Kellaway | 2015, Rd 7: Mark Lee | 2015, Rd 9: Derek Peardon |
| 2015, R12: Dale Weightman | 2015, R15: Matthew Richardson | 2015, R17: Dick Clay |
| 2015, R20: Barry Rowlings | 2016, R6: Matthew Rogers | 2016, R7: Jake King |
| 2016, R8: Nick Daffy | 2016, R12: Nathan Foley | 2016, R14: Dan Jackson |
| 2016, R17: Scott Turner | 2016, R20: Jim Jess | 2016, R21: John Ronaldson |
| 2016, R22: Graeme Bond | 2017, R2: Roger Dean | 2017, R3: Richard Clay |
| 2017, R8: Mick Malthouse | 2017, R10: Michael Mitchell | 2017, R13: Shane Tuck |
| 2017, R14: Paul Broderick | 2017, R18: Stephen Mount | 2017, R20: Graham Burgin |
| 2017, R23: Trevor Poole | 2018, R3: Michael Roach | 2018, R4: Michael Gale |
| 2018, R7: Craig Lambert | 2018, R10: Stephen Rae | 2018, R16: Chris Naish |
| 2018, R19: Tony Jewell | 2018, R20: Gareth Andrews | 2018, R22: Mark Eustice |
| 2018, R23: Nathan Brown | 2019, R2: Geoff Raines | 2019, R9: Darren Gaspar |
| 2019, R10: Andrew Krakouer | 2019, R12: Jeff Hogg | 2019, R17: Greg Tivendale |
| 2019, R18: Ivan Maric | 2019, R21: Tony Free | 2019, R22: Merv Keane |
| 2019, R23: Michael Pickering |
2021, R7: Chris Hyde | 2021, R8: Kayne Pettifer |
| 2021, R17: Lionel Proctor | 2022, R2: Jacob Townsend | 2022, R4: Joel Bowden |
| 2022, R8: Brett Deledio | 2022, R10: Phil Egan | 2022, R13: Kelvin Moore |
| 2022, R14: Sam Lloyd | 2022, R16: Ben Holland | 2022, R20: Brett Evans |
| 2023, R1: Neil Balme |
2023, R4: Robert McGhie |
2023, R8: Laurie Fowler |
| 2023, R9: Bachar Houli |
2023, R11: Shaun Grigg |
2023, R14: John Howat |
| 2023, R17: Mike Perry |
2023, R19: Craig McKellar |
2023, R20: Bruce Monteath |
| 2024, R2: Matt White |
2024, R8: Reece Conca |
2024, R11: Shane Edwards |
| 2024, R14: Cameron Clayton |
2024, R16: Mark Coughlan |
2024, R18: Kevin Sheedy |
