Kevin Sheedy AO
Kevin Sheedy AO
AFL Super Coach
Kevin Sheedy is the greatest AFL coach of all time. A player and coach over five decades, Kevin has an unsurpassed record of involvement in over 1000 AFL games and eight premierships. In 2008, Kevin was elevated to Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Kevin coached Essendon for 27 years, and then in 2012 became the inaugural coach of the newest AFL club – Greater Western Sydney, taking his young team to two unexpected victories and helping spread the message of Australian football to a whole new audience. After two years as senior coach, Kevin stood down to take up the position of Director with Greater Western Sydney, then in 2015 returned to Essendon as General Manager, Commercial Development and Innovation.
That official title reflected what Kevin Sheedy had been doing for years as both footballer and coach. As well as all the on-field success he achieved, Kevin has always had the keenest of eyes for innovation, and ways to commercially develop the game of Australian football.
Kevin Sheedy began his career at Prahran Football Club in the Victorian Football Association in 1964. After playing in a premiership with that club, he transferred to Richmond in the Victorian Football League in 1967 and played 251 games before retiring in 1979. Kevin played in three winning grand final sides for the Tigers –Â 1969, 1973 and 1974. He was the Skills Coach at Richmond when the club won the 1980 Premiership.
In 1981 he was appointed Senior Coach at the Essendon Football Club, where he coached for a record 635 games during 27 years of continuous coaching. In that time the club completed in 19 finals series. During his time at Essendon, the club competed in seven Grand Finals, winning flags in 1984, 1985, 1993 and 2000. The club also won six of eight “Night” grand finals in which it competed.
Kevin was “All Australian” coach in 1984, 1985, 1993 and 2000 and State of Origin coach in 1984 and 1985. He was also the successful Coach of the International Rules Team in 2005 and 2006, winning three of the four Tests played during his tenure.
As well as on field success, Kevin also helped develop Essendon off the field. In 1980, membership was 15,000, in 2008, Kevin was given the honour of being the club’s 40,000th member in recognition of his efforts in making the Bombers a national “brand”.
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Kevin was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998, he received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000, Centenary Medal in 2001, inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2009 and advanced to an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was also appointed to be an Ambassador for the AFL during the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Australian football. Kevin is a life Member of the Richmond Football Club, Essendon Football Club and the Australian Football League.
Kevin is also proud of the role he played in setting up AFL SportsReady, a traineeship scheme that has created 13,000 jobs, many of those for young Indigenous Australians, and created a turnover of $40 million for Australian business.