Dom Sheed: From Kalgoorlie kid to AFL superstar, he will be forever be remembered as a hero for ‘that kick’

One kick. Retiring West Coast Eagle Dom Sheed will be remembered as a selfless teammate, an all-round good bloke, a premiership player, 165-gamer, club life member and John Worsfold Medal runner-up. He had 1915 kicks in his career, but it’s hard to get past that one, a drop punt from the tightest of angles that decided the 2018 grand final with less than two minutes left on the clock. Sheed, who announced his retirement on Tuesday after a knee reconstruction and prolonged foot injuries, can’t estimate how many times he has been asked about the kick, or how many beers he has been shouted as a result. “Right place, right time. And then to to be able to execute … on the biggest stage in footy, it’s something I think about every five minutes,” he said to a Mineral Resources Park lecture theatre filled with current and past teammates, including Jeremy McGovern, Luke Shuey and Nic Naitanui, wife Brooke, their 15-week old daughter Murphy, and his dad Ian. “There’s a level of guilt that comes with it. When people talk about that game, they talk about that kick a lot. “It takes a lot of people to be able to make a grand final, to be able to win one. I was a beneficiary of what was, in my eyes, one of the greatest grand finals ever.” It’s only natural that such an important kick, with so much riding on it, against Collingwood in front of a packed MCG, gets the headlines. What is overlooked is that was his 32nd disposal for the game, to go with eight clearances and six inside 50s. He polled four Norm Smith Medal votes on grand final day, to finish third best on ground behind Shuey and Magpie Taylor Adams. Or his stellar form in that finals series. He had 27 touches and kicked a goal in the qualifying final against Collingwood and another 27 possessions in the preliminary final victory over Melbourne. “It (football) has bought me a wide range of emotions over the years, some amazing ones, and some down ones as well. What I do know is to win a premiership, it takes a whole football club to be able to do that, and we had worked our backsides off for years to get to that point,” Sheed said. “And as much as I was part of that special moment, I was able to execute, it was just, it’s so much bigger than that.” So the bookends of arguably the greatest passage of play in AFL grand final history are gone. McGovern, who took the intercept mark to set off the chain that led to the Sheed goal, retired a little over a week ago, his hand forced by the league’s concussion board. Ruckman Nathan Vardy and forward Liam Ryan were the two other key cogs in the chain, with only the latter remaining on the Eagles list. “It was special, and I wouldn’t take it back, that’s for sure. But you know, we hit a sweet spot at the right time,” Sheed recalled. “It wasn’t just me, it was the whole playing group, footy department, fans that actually got us there. So I’m just grateful I was able to not kick it out on the full.” Sheed entered the room on Tuesday while a career highlights package played in the background and joked afterwards he had a “lot of hair” back then and was thankful there was footage to savour other than his grand final kick. It was played to Odesza’s Line of Sight, the lyrics perfectly reflecting the moment: “I’m facing back to front, over my shoulder at the sun, and it’s an open door, end of my line of sight once more.” A pencil-thin midfielder from Kalgoorlie, who won the Larke Medal as the best overall player in the 2013 under-18 national carnival, Sheed was drafted from Subiaco via Mines Rovers in the Goldfields. Taken with pick 11 in 2013, he made his debut in round one the following season under new coach Adam Simpson. “It’s been a hell of a journey. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to achieve,” Sheed said. “And I leave the game being a life member of the footy club, a premiership player and I think, most importantly, I leave a better person. “My body hasn’t been able to hold up. I felt like, mentally, I probably had more to give, but physically, absolutely not. “I’ll always be connected to this footy club. I love this footy club. What it’s done for me personally, I don’t know where I’d be without the footy club along with the support of my dad, and my wife, Brooke, who’s had to deal with, unfortunately in the football environment, more lows than highs, and she’s been there the whole way through.” He said telling his teammates he was retiring was “the most difficult thing that I’ve had to do in footy.” “I think it was Darren Glass who was the first person that I saw get up and speak (retire) to the boys, and he folded like a camping chair,” Sheed said. “It’s one of the hardest things to do is to say goodbye to your teammates, because you love them so much. “Then I sat through Gov’s last week, and he’s just a big bowl of concrete that bloke, so he didn’t shed a tear. He seemed to make it look easy, but I said, ‘Well done’, and he said, ‘Good luck, mate. That was just the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do’. “So that didn’t help me out, but (it was) very, very difficult. “It’s been 12 years and I’ve played with a lot of players, a lot of teammates who have supported me throughout the journey and got the best out of me. “It’s a funny feeling sitting up here, and some of the previous players who have sat up here, Bunga (Shannon Hurn), Luke Shuey, Gov. They’re like A-graders. They’re hall of famers of the game. “I almost feel not worthy sitting up here. I feel very, very lucky, and I’ll leave the game a happy person.” And there are more than 100,000 paid up Eagles members who are happy it was Sheed who took that kick.