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FORMER Essendon coach and AFL legend Kevin Sheedy ranks Bob Beare on par with hard-nuts Mark Harvey, Roger Merrett and Dean Wallis for toughness on the football field.
While Beare didn't play any senior games at Essendon, the blonde-haired talent from Kyneton left a lasting impression on Sheedy that he still fondly recalls more than 30 years later.
Well-known country football identity Beare, who was synonymous with the Kyneton, Heathcote and Trentham football-netball clubs, died last week aged 57.
However, he also spent time at Essendon in 1984 when Sheedy was coach and played some games in the Bombers' reserves, but preferred the country lifestyle playing alongside his mates at Kyneton.
"I had an extremely high opinion of Bob Beare… he was a very tough player," Sheedy told the Bendigo Advertiser on Thursday.
"We were building a very good team through that era, but Bob was just as tough as Mark Harvey, Roger Merrett and Dean Wallis."
Essendon won back-to-back premierships in 1984 and 1985 and Sheedy says that had Beare - who idolised Bombers' high-flyer Paul Vander Haar - been committed to a VFL career he could have forged himself a spot in those powerful sides.
"I've got no doubt he had a very good chance of playing in those teams," Sheedy said.
We had a lot of tough players through that period and I can tell you that Bob Beare was tough
- Kevin Sheedy
"We had a lot of tough players through that period and I can tell you that Bob Beare was tough.
"I rate him as tough as any player I coached… to be still playing only a couple of years ago into his 50s shows just how tough he was.
"He was just your real tough country Daniher-type character."
Beare's funeral will be held next Friday, March 15, from 2pm at the Kyneton football ground.
It will be followed by a burial at the Kyneton Lawn Cemetery and wake at the Kyneton Racecourse.
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