THE NEED FOR SHEED

JAMIE Cripps never had a doubt.

He’d seen Dom Sheed kick enough goals in training to know the midfielder would boot the grand finalwinning goal from deep in the Punt Road End pocket at the MCG.

Standing just metres away, Cripps threw his hands up in the air in celebration as Sheed kicked one of the most significant goals in recent AFL grand final history, charging to his teammate to celebrate in front of the West Coast fans.

“He was never going to miss, Dommy,” Cripps said.

“He has had a tough year (going) in and out of the side, but he has been playing amazing footy lately. He deserves it.”

While Cripps had faith, Sheed admitted he was “s----ing himself”.

Sheed managed to take the mark after getting on the end of a Liam Ryan pass, his team down by two points with two minutes remaining in the season-decider.

The build-up to the goal started in defence when Jeremy McGovern took a trademark intercept mark.

Nathan Vardy then clunked the ball on a wing and moved it on quickly as the clock ticked down.

Ryan then made up for a couple of errors with a brilliant contested mark before kicking it in Sheed’s direction.

Standing in the forward pocket with the eyes of 100,000 people watching him, Sheed said a number of options raced through his head as he lined up.

“I thought about going around the corner or playing on but I thought I’d go back and have a crack,” Sheed said

“I thought I’d probably be able to hit the ball better, a bit more flush, if I just went for a straight drop punt.

“With less than two minutes to go in a grand final to put your team in front … you’re s----ing yourself a bit, that’s the reality.

“That’s what happens on the biggest stage.

“I thought I hit it well. I don’t really remember it right now, it’s all still so raw and surreal … I can’t believe I’ve got a medal around my neck.”

A modest Sheed said he was lucky his left-footed shot dissected the posts to win the game, though the scenario had been trained for.

“As a squad we do a lot of mindfulness work to help us improve in that sort of situation in games, I think it paid off,” Sheed said.

Cripps said having a premiership medal around his neck felt “amazing”.

“I can’t really describe it at the moment. It’s just insane,” Cripps said.