THE great Kevin Sheedy has a burning passion, and it is all to do with footballers in the Riverina.
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Sheedy was in Wagga last week, and, not for the first time, was intent on raising interest in the idea of recognising the best Australian football players from the region.
Over a fine meal, a beer and a red, Sheedy talked to the converted about the prospect of naming the Riverina's Team of the Century.
Listening to Sheedy, it was easy to understand the legendary coach thinks this is something that needs to be done without the slightest question.
And he has got the right people on side to make it happen as early as next year.
AFL NSW-ACT is definitely on board the project, and seems as eager as Sheedy to ensure it gets off the ground.
Now, the concept of the Riverina's Team of the Century is not exactly new it's been doing the rounds for a year or more.
Well, really it's probably much longer, as a similar notion has been mentioned in dispatches in the past by others with a real feel for the wonderful history of Australian football in the Riverina.
Now that's something Kevin Sheedy most assuredly has.
Give Sheedy the opportunity to talk about the illustrious players who have been born and bred in this region and it is hard to stop him.
This isn't a bad thing either as Sheedy is a tremendous football orator he just doesn't waffle for the sake of it.
Last week Sheedy poured out his heart over his plan to unveil the Team of the Century, and it was impossible not to be swept up by it.
Taking stock of it all, the Team of the Century is planned to recognise the players from these parts who have mainly gone on to do huge things in the VFL/AFL over the last 100 years, give or take.
For starters, this quite obviously means Paul Kelly and Wayne Carey.
Even those with the most basic knowledge of the sport read me would put Kel and The King straight into the Team of the Century, without the slightest hesitation.
Kelly and Carey are unquestionably right up there with the greatest sporting names ever produced in NSW, let alone the southern extremities.
After that, however, it gets a darn sight harder for some at least.
Not Kevin Sheedy.
Holding court on the deck at The Duke Hotel the other night, Sheedy tossed up a few other frontline contenders for the Team of the Century, some universally well known, and others less so.
Completely off the cuff, Sheedy rattled off names including Shane Crawford, "Turkey" Tom Carroll, Bill Mohr, the Daniher brothers Terry, Chris, Anthony and Neale and Geoff Kingston.
Yes, the Daniher boys are football royalty out Ungarie way, and Shane Crawford is possibly the best sportsman ever produced in Finley, a remote outpost in the west of the Riverina.
Crawford played 200 games for Hawthorn (1993-2002) and the Danihers played an astronomical 618 games between them for Essendon.
Likewise, Tom Carroll went from Ganmain to Carlton to play 55 games for the Blues, while Bill Mohr was recruited from Wagga before playing 195 games for St Kilda from 1929 to 1941.
As Sheedy says, these blokes are genuine champions in their own right but he is also just as fervent about Geoff Hubert Kingston.
The master coach, motivator and innovator believes Kingston is often shunted into the background, and not given the accolades he so richly deserves.
Sheedy certainly has a massive opinion of the talent of Kingston and so did former celebrated The Daily Advertiser colleague Ross Ingram. The Notebook lost count of the number of times the late "Mr Sco" spoke reverently of Geoff Kingston, and his accomplishments.
Although born in Melbourne, Kingston lived in Wagga for 15 years, attending South Wagga Public School and Wagga High School, before moving to South Australia to build an amazing career.
Not only was he named in the All-Australian team in 1961, he represented SA 15 times against Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.
Nowadays, Kingston is regaled as probably the best player from the Riverina never to play in the VFL/AFL.
So it is little wonder he was inducted into the Wagga Sporting Hall of Fame alongside Kelly, Carey, Terry Daniher and Mohr.
The likes of Kingston, Kelly, Carey, etc are the players Kevin Sheedy wants in the Team of the Century, but filling in the gaps will be the hardest part. Even Sheedy admits that settling on the all-time top 18 players from such a bountiful football breeding ground will be an ominous, if not odious, task.
Sheedy also concedes that just setting up the criteria for selection will be seriously difficult, for no other reason than simply defining the boundaries of the Riverina.
Where does it start and where does it finish? And have the same towns always been included?
These are the questions Sheedy wants answered before the ticklish part comes of choosing the players.
Clear parameters will be in place before the selection panel, headed naturally by Sheedy, sits down to pick the team.
Good luck with that and also finding the right people for the panel.
One way or the other, this is an idea that will get off the ground.
The GWS Giants are already right behind Sheedy's proposal, with the club's chief operating officer Richard Griffiths suggesting the team be unveiled at a function for 200-plus people at a venue like the Murrumbidgee Turf Club, possibly around Wagga Gold Cup time.
What a night that would be.
Kevin Sheedy is thinking big.
Let's hope Wagga City Council and the entire sporting community can share his vision.