An emotional farewell for Sheeds

OH the emotion. Even The Note considered shedding a tear on Friday when a packed house came to have lunch with the man of the moment – Essendon’s outgoing coach, Kevin Sheedy. Sheeds (as he invited us all to call him) arrived at the last possible moment at his last luncheon as coach, quite a coup for the organisers – the Association of Consulting Engineers of Australia, the Property Council, the Master Builders Association and the Royal Institute of Architects. But while Sheeds was the man of the moment, the show was stolen by a young man wearing a Bombers jumper. Not only had he arrived early to nab Sheeds first thing (pity the stars came some hours later), the young fella got to stand up in full red and black glory to ask a question – really making a fashion statement. That might have been enough if lady luck hadn’t pulled off a coup of her own. It all looked rigged (we’re assured it wasn’t) when Matthew Patullock, urban designer from Koltasz Smith, was drawn out of the bowl to win the door prize. Suddenly, there he was, on stage, in the spotlight, with his hero.The young Melbournian, emblazoned in his Bombers jumper, admitted he was young enough for Sheeds to be coach all his life and that he’d flown back for his final home game last week. "This has been the greatest moment of my life," young Matthew gushed, wiping back what The Note reckons was definitely a tear.It was almost too much for all of us.