FORMER Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy has placed former Horsham midfielder Shane Heard in an elite group narrowly behind James Hird, Terry Daniher and Gary O'Donnell as the hardest working players he had coached.

Sheedy was infamously sacked mid-season by the Bombers last year after 27 years at the helm.

Speaking at Moyston on Monday, Sheedy was glowing in praise for Heard, who played 168 games for Essendon including the 1984 premiership.

"Shane Heard was one of the easiest-to-coach players I had in my time at Essendon," Sheedy said.

"There would be James Hird, Terry Daniher, Gary O'Donnell and then Shane Heard who put so much in on the training track.

"They all knew their body and trained to perfection, and if you had players like Heard who were as committed these days they would play 200 games no worries."

Sheedy said Heard got absolutely everything out of himself. "You would give him 100 out of 100 for getting the best out of himself; not 99, but 100," he said.

Heard was widely regarded as one of Sheedy's favourites, earning a reputation as a rugged tagger, and after prematurely ending his VFL career in 1988 to return to Horsham was famously convinced by Sheedy to return to the club for one last season in 1991.

The Wimmera had a distinct link with the Bombers throughout Sheedy's reign with the region being zoned to Essendon and producing champions including Tim Watson, Roger Merrett and Merv Neagle.

Sheedy said the reason why Wimmera exports were not as prominent at the moment was just a sign of the times.

"It all happens in ebbs and flows. You look at Carlton who had a lot of players from Bendigo but there are not many that come out of there at the moment either," he said.

"Then there is the Gold Coast which is producing players like Nick Riewoldt, Kurt Tippett and David Hale.