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West Australian
4 days ago
- Sport
- West Australian
EDITORIAL: Retiring Dom Sheed has his spot in AFL history secured
It's a good problem to have. But there's a touch of unfairness to the fact that retiring West Coast Eagle Dom Sheed will be remembered by fans primarily for a single kick. A spectacular one, certainly. One made with the weight of a premiership on his shoulders. But one he managed to make look easy, despite the tightness of the angle and the magnitude of the occasion. Sheed's drop punt from the boundary to secure the 2018 grand final for the Eagles — made with just two minutes left on the clock — is already part of AFL folklore. And Sheed one of the game's legends. Even if you're not a West Coast fan, you can likely replay the moment in your mind, so ubiquitous has it become. The cost of being part of such an iconic moment is that it tends to overshadow everything else; the years of hard graft that came before and after. As Sheed on Tuesday announced his retirement from the club he has represented since he was drafted as an 18-year-old kid from Kalgoorlie in 2013, that kick was at the front of his mind, as it was everyone else's. It says much about the man's character that he confessed he has mixed feelings about being at the centre of such an iconic moment. 'There's a level of guilt that comes with it,' Sheed said. '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, and I was a beneficiary of what was, in my eyes, one of the greatest grand finals ever.' In a lot of other West Australians' eyes too. Has there been a single moment of greater sheer delirium in our State? 'It wasn't until after we won the grand final, (seeing) how much joy and happiness you can bring other people,' Sheed said. 'And that was really special for me, to actually bring happiness to others.' Unfortunately, Sheed's final seasons have been marred by injuries. He has only played 24 games of senior footy since 2022. 'My body hasn't been able to hold up. I felt like, mentally, I probably had more to give, but physically, absolutely not,' he said. 'I worked extremely hard to try and get back. And I've pondered this decision for a while, and it's definitely the right one.' So the now-30-year-old has called time on a career having spent more than a third of his life at the Eagles. He'll always be an Eagle, as a premiership player and a club life member. There can be few more deserving of the honour. He's been there through it all: the very highest of the highs, as well as some of the lower points of the club's history. As Sheed said on Monday, it's been a hell of a journey. Throughout his career, he has had two goals. 'I am a pretty simple bloke. I wanted to be someone who trained hard and was a good bloke'. Job done.
The Age
11-05-2025
- General
- The Age
‘A heaviness in my heart': This WA mum lives on $441 a week
When Laura got divorced, she gave up her teaching career to care full-time for her disabled daughter, Charlotte. Laura lives in a two-bedroom house in Northam with her four children and with a carer's pension she earns $441 a week. That's $934 below the poverty line. 'Having worked so hard to study and get myself a career that I was passionate about and loved, I had to relinquish that,' she tells me as I sit with her as part of the No Place for Poverty movement. 'Poverty is a heaviness in my heart. It steals from the childhood that I wanted to give my children. It steals from me the satisfaction of being the mum I always desperately wanted to be to my babies.' Then there's Sharlene who fights back tears as she shares her story with me, about how she secured a full-time job and became the first Noongar financial counsellor in WA to pass the government's online course. Even still, between caring for her elderly mother and supporting her granddaughter, she can go days without eating lunch to ensure her granddaughter can eat at school and take part in social sports. Kim lives in Perth and while no longer a child, she still bears the mental scars of childhood poverty. Her mother and father both died when she was young and as an orphan, she had to stretch her youth allowance, with half going on rent, leaving only a small amount to be used sparingly on food. These West Australians' stories are also stories of systems that were meant to help people but are failing. It used to be that the Australian concept of the fair go extended into a collective belief, structures and policies that allowed equal chances of success. Past political leaders shared this view, attempting to make our systems fairer, even if this meant swimming against the political current. In the 1987 federal election campaign, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke vowed to end child poverty by 1990. It was a lofty goal, and while he did reduce it by 30 per cent, almost 40 years later as we head to another federal election, one in six children in WA now live below the poverty line. Prime Minister Albanese's vision of an Australia 'where no one is left behind' rings hollow when we see growing inequality and poverty all around us. And as for the Coalition, it's difficult to recall any substantial vision they offered for a fairer society before Saturday's historic defeat.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘A heaviness in my heart': This WA mum lives on $441 a week
When Laura got divorced, she gave up her teaching career to care full-time for her disabled daughter, Charlotte. Laura lives in a two-bedroom house in Northam with her four children and with a carer's pension she earns $441 a week. That's $934 below the poverty line. 'Having worked so hard to study and get myself a career that I was passionate about and loved, I had to relinquish that,' she tells me as I sit with her as part of the No Place for Poverty movement. 'Poverty is a heaviness in my heart. It steals from the childhood that I wanted to give my children. It steals from me the satisfaction of being the mum I always desperately wanted to be to my babies.' Then there's Sharlene who fights back tears as she shares her story with me, about how she secured a full-time job and became the first Noongar financial counsellor in WA to pass the government's online course. Even still, between caring for her elderly mother and supporting her granddaughter, she can go days without eating lunch to ensure her granddaughter can eat at school and take part in social sports. Kim lives in Perth and while no longer a child, she still bears the mental scars of childhood poverty. Her mother and father both died when she was young and as an orphan, she had to stretch her youth allowance, with half going on rent, leaving only a small amount to be used sparingly on food. These West Australians' stories are also stories of systems that were meant to help people but are failing. It used to be that the Australian concept of the fair go extended into a collective belief, structures and policies that allowed equal chances of success. Past political leaders shared this view, attempting to make our systems fairer, even if this meant swimming against the political current. In the 1987 federal election campaign, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke vowed to end child poverty by 1990. It was a lofty goal, and while he did reduce it by 30 per cent, almost 40 years later as we head to another federal election, one in six children in WA now live below the poverty line. Prime Minister Albanese's vision of an Australia 'where no one is left behind' rings hollow when we see growing inequality and poverty all around us. And as for the Coalition, it's difficult to recall any substantial vision they offered for a fairer society before Saturday's historic defeat.
