Don't expect expect a show of emotion from Kevin Sheedy this weekend when he coaches against his old AFL club Essendon for the final time.
Sheedy, who won four premierships in a 27-season-stint with the Bombers, will finish up with Greater Western Sydney at the end of this campaign.
In the opposing coaches box on Saturday will be James Hird, who played his entire career under Sheedy and who has piloted the Bombers into the top four despite major off-field distractions.
With the Giants still winless this year, Sheedy is more focused on getting the right result at Skoda Stadium and rebounding from last week's 129-point drubbing by Sydney than getting caught up in sentiment and emotion.
"We need to play well and win so it won't be emotional, I can assure you," Sheedy said on Friday.
"But Essendon know that. They are up in the top four with a bit of a chance.
"They have made some changes and we've made changes, so we'll end up wanting to play pretty well and I don't think it will be any emotion.
"I left there about six years ago.
"It will be full on - Hirdy will know that."
Hird said Sheedy seemed to pick a better side when the Giants played Essendon.
"He's a very competitive animal - he'd love to win the game. But it's a very important game for us to win."
GWS have made seven changes to the team walloped by the Swans, with ruckman Dean Brogan and midfielder and last year's best and fairest runner-up Toby Greene among the inclusions.
Sheedy acknowledged making so many changes could be unsettling.
"It can be but the players we are bringing into the side are reasonably experienced for us. Players like Greene - they have played 25 to 30 games," Sheedy said.
"We're trying to build that bracket of 30-game players up at our club and I think we've nearly got that to about 11, which is a fantastic effort in a year and a half."
GWS have indicated they could trade the No.1 draft pick for more experienced players if they finish last, but Sheedy revealed he didn't agree entirely with that line of thinking.
"Personally, I don't like trading No.1 draft picks - that's what I think," Sheedy said.
"My job is to get as many of these young players to play as many games as possible by the end of this season."
He made no apologies for dropping some youngsters without giving them an extended run.
"If you are going to come up, play well," Sheedy said.
"We don't want to keep rewarding players for not playing well."
One of the code's great visionaries, Sheedy said he would definitely like to see the Giants playing in Shanghai in the next three to five years.
"They are not on the table right now in the AFL draw but, if we get these two games up (in China), the Giants will put a landmark on AFL history," Sheedy said.
He said he hadn't yet spoken to AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan about the idea.
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