Greater Western Sydney inadvertently ended the tenure of one AFL coach last year.
Next Sunday they have the potential to do the same with besieged Melbourne mentor Mark Neeld.
Chief executive Cameron Schwab last week became the first casualty of the Demons’ hellish start to the season.
With meek losses tallying 321 points, the pressure on Neeld remains immense.
A fourth discouraging defeat, to expansion side GWS at the MCG, could be the tipping point.
The Giants have form. Last year they stunned Port Adelaide, a crisis meeting followed and it was determined Matthew Primus would not coach the Power in 2013.
Adding to the drama is GWS coach Kevin Sheedy’s history with the Demons.
The latest chapter came in 2007 when he was overlooked for their then-vacant coaching position.
“I actually went and interviewed Melbourne – they thought they were interviewing me – and you could see the problems coming,” he recalled last year.
There was no sign of Sheedy’s trademark niggle after his team’s 72-point loss to St Kilda on Saturday, a result soured by a season-ending knee injury to Jonathon Patton.
Sheedy was all business, terming it a crucial game for his winless club.
“My mind will be on coaching our team,” he said.
“We’re in the bottom four and we’ve got to get out of there. That’s our main aim, and that’s why the game is important next week.”
Sheedy added there was “no doubt” the Demons were ahead of his side.
“Melbourne won more games than us last year … they beat us well last year and played very, very well.”
The Giants will be without 19-year-old Patton for the rest of the season.
GWS is yet to decide on his method of treatment, but given the 2011 No.1 draft pick’s age it is expected he will have a traditional knee reconstruction.
“We have every confidence that he will work just as hard again to get back to full fitness and his absence is an opportunity for other players at the club to step up,” Giants football manager Graeme Allan said.
Setanta O’hAilpin, Sam Frost and Adam Tomlinson are in contention to take Patton’s place in the side, while Sheedy said he’d contemplate playing ruckman Jonathan Giles as a key forward.
Sheedy, in his 29th and final season as head coach, said he erred at the selection table against the Saints.
“The signs were there for us to really look at resting some of the boys … (we should have) and we learned that,” the four-time premiership coach said.
TomC
Roar Guru
You come onto an AFL thread and pollute it with code war spam. Disgusting. Grow up.
Bill
Guest
The Demons will flog GWS - they,ve got nothing. Putting Sheedy in charge in Sydney is like giving the village idiot the keys to the city - his idiotic utterings are damaging the AFL in Sydney. Heis undoing all the good work of coaching legends in Sydney like Tommy Hafey, Ron Barrassi, Roosy and Johnny Longmire - time to send him back to Bleak City .
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Micka, Jimmy's a soccer ideologue.
micka
Guest
So get rid of the oldest club in the comp after a few bad seasons? relegate Gold Coast who have won more than carlton this season and arguably been more competative than half the comp? Or get rid of GWS one season in despite also showing a heap of growth? Theres no A and B league, there is just top and bottom of the ladder. Someone is always going to be losing, some more than others. It's the nature of competetive sport. You either don't know much about the game or have an incredibly short memory...
James Stewert
Guest
the AFL is essentially one competition with a clear and administrated organised division A & B with more money being thrown towards the 2 grade teams. I cannot think of any other competition in the world where the premiers of the A league are planned to face the second level teams all in the name of growth after 30 years. If you cant grow a sports club in 30 years in a country's largest city boasting a compete monopoly of the town then maybe one should focus on wiping the bums of the teams that are iconic of the comp. if they are all from one city then just accept that is the soul of your sport. Really dividing the current 18 AFL teams into two separate A and B divisions might not be best for the planned image of an administrators personal vision but be beneficial of the credibility of the sport - which in turn may boost interest in the comp outside of Melbourne.