No pity for Crows from GWS coach Sheedy - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

No pity for Crows from GWS coach Sheedy

By Sam Lienert 02/08/2011 04:08:38 PM Comments (0)

Greater Western Sydney coach Kevin Sheedy feels no sympathy for Adelaide, or any other AFL club that loses an emerging star to the Giants.

The loss of 20-year-old key defender Phil Davis - a top-10 pick from the 2008 national draft, who has played just 18 AFL games for the Crow - has left Adelaide fuming.

Davis' announcement that he will join GWS at the end of the season is the same scenario Melbourne could face with 2009 No.1 draft pick Tom Scully, who has also been strongly linked to the Giants.

But Sheedy said the expansion club did not need to apologise for building a squad for their AFL debut next year, by snatching the brightest young talent from struggling rivals.

"Our job is to go and find players anywhere in Australia, get the best ones we can and build a great club in footy," Sheedy said on Tuesday.

"We've taken too long to get (a club in western Sydney) and we want to get it right now that we're there.

"No beg pardons, that's it. We are there to build a footy club."

Sheedy said there were precedents for the Giants' recruiting tactics.

"Whatever happens, judge it by how long (Nathan) Buckley stayed at the (Brisbane) Bears and (Shane) O'Bree, then come back and ask the question. It's been happening for decades."

Buckley was drafted to Brisbane for the 1993 season, when the Bears were bottom-four regulars, but spent just one year there, before leaving to become one of Collingwood's all-time greats.

O'Bree spent just two seasons with Brisbane, before also joining the Magpies.

Sheedy was hopeful several other youngsters would follow Davis out of their existing clubs.

"Any player that wants to come to play with the Giants in Greater Western Sydney, I'm rapt in, because that means we've hit a raw nerve, that players really want to come to Sydney, and that's great."

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