Sunday's 83-point defeat to the Suns spoke volumes about where the teams are at and emphasised that the Giants have shown few of the positive signs the other new franchise did at the tail-end of their second season.
Both Giants CEO Dave Matthews and new coach Leon Cameron said patience was the biggest message Sheedy had preached at Skoda Stadium, but the 679-game veteran admitted the club could not just rely on youngsters if the team was to emulate Gold Coast in 2014.
"You look where the Gold Coast are at and it's very exciting indeed," Sheedy said.
"They’ve got speed and wonderful ball-handling; they'll be a very good side in the next three years.
"We need to recruit really well in the next couple of years just to catch up to them, there's no doubt about that.
"We need three or four really top players.
"We've tried to develop the youngest team in the competition.
"We haven't had an Ablett.
"We've got 13 players (injured) and had to go into the depth of the teenage group coming through."
Sheedy mischievously encouraged Cameron to talk about the new players he wanted to coach next season.
When the new coach tried to evade being specific, Sheedy quipped: "We all want to know Leon."
Cameron neglected to take his mentor's advice, but backed Sheedy's call for older recruits to accelerate the development of young talent.
"We've been strong in our messages that the third year in our existence we need to bring in mature age experience," Cameron said.
"Whether it's a ruckman or key forward or key back or a key mid, we're on the hunt to add value in terms of maturity to the list."
