John Cameron Sheedy (28 September 1926 – 23 February 2023) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and coach. He played for and in the

Western Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WANFL) and in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Sheedy is considered one of the greatest ever footballers from Western Australia, being the first player from that state to play 300 games in elite Australian rules football, and was a member of both the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

and the West Australian Football Halls of Fame. Overall, he played 323 senior career matches from 1944 to 1962, kicking 480 senior career goals, and also coached 272 senior career games, with a

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

of 65%.

Playing career

Early career and naval service

The son of A. F. "Barney" Sheedy, a former East Fremantle player and WAFL interstate representative, Sheedy attended Richmond State School in

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and Fremantle Boys' School in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, captaining both schools' football teams. He also led the school's batting averages at

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, and later played First Grade cricket for the Fremantle Cricket Club in the Western Australian Grade Cricket competition. After leaving school, he played for Fremantle in the Fremantle Ex-Scholars competition, before making his debut for East Fremantle in the age-restricted WANFL competition in 1942. He won the Lynn Medal as the club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

in 1943, and played in East Fremantle's premiership win over . He enlisted in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

in March 1944, at only 17 years of age, and was immediately posted to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He was signed by in the

(VFL), where he played six games, kicking seven goals. Sheedy's unit then went to Sydney in, where he played with Sydney Naval, including in their 1944 premiership win in the New South Wales Australian National Football League (NSWANFL). He had kicked the winning goal in the preliminary final against Newtown the previous week with less than three minutes remaining in the match. He kicked 12 goals in three rounds in 1946 before he returned to Western Australia.

Return to Western Australia

Sheedy immediately made his senior debut for East Fremantle.

Transfer to East Perth and coaching career

Sheedy transferred to for the 1956 season, where he was immediately appointed captain-coach of the club. Sheedy served as captain-coach of East Perth from 1956 to 1961, and as non-playing coach from 1962 to 1964, with one final season in 1969.

Personal life and death

Sheedy worked as a clerk at the Fremantle Harbour Trust. Sheedy died on 24 February 2023, at the age of 96.Legendary WA footballer Jack Sheedy dies at 96
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Legacy and honours

Sheedy had a reputation as one of the toughest and most violent players in the WANFL, and was suspended numerous times. In 2001 Sheedy was inducted into the

. In 2004 he was inducted to the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise significant contributors to Australian rules football in Western Australia. Candidates are players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives. The induct ...

and in 2005 he was elevated to Legend Status.

References

External links

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AFL Hall of Fame
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheedy, Jack 1926 births 2023 deaths Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees East Fremantle Football Club coaches East Fremantle Football Club players East Perth Football Club coaches East Perth Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Fremantle Sydney Swans players Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Military personnel from Western Australia