Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Prospective Essendon coach James Hird plans to refresh the club’s football department and introduce a modern way of teaching players, should he win the top role.
Two industry sources with knowledge of the situation at “the Hangar”, who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak freely, rubbished suggestions that a decade spent largely out of the AFL system meant the dual-premiership star and former captain would need time to adjust to the way the game is now played.
Hird is a master communicator, the same sources said, who would lean into the increasing use of artificial intelligence to help gather and dissect information for players and coaches, as Hawthorn has embraced under coach Sam Mitchell.
The same sources said Hird understood communication with players, in terms of relationship building and team tactics, had changed since he left the club through the 2015 season amid the fallout of the drugs saga.
Hird has seen how some AFL clubs now outline concise but detailed game plans with bite-sized information, reflecting how teenagers and 20-somethings consume information on social media. His close work building the skills of players as director of coaching with VFL club Port Melbourne had strengthened his philosophy on how to deal with emerging young talent and senior players.
Hird, who had a stint as an assistant coach at GWS in 2022 when friend Mark McVeigh was interim coach, has also spent a decade in highly pressured finance ventures, where communicating and making key calls when the stakes are high is the norm.
While many Essendon fans have used talkback radio to declare they want Hird to return, and think he would unify a factionalised club boasting heavyweight financial figures, Hird has told friends that he knows there will be others who are less keen on his return. Still, he argues all senior coaches have their detractors.
The same industry sources said Hird was yet to be contacted by his former teammate and current Bombers president Andrew Welsh since declaring on Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday that he was keen to replace the sacked Brad Scott as coach, but wants a full and thorough process to be run by the club.
The Bombers are being called on to publicly declare whether they want Hird to take on his former role amid concerns his high-profile candidacy will deter other candidates. Hird’s decision to declare his interest has sparked a fierce debate over whether he should be part of a selection process, as he was in 2022 when he lost out to Scott.
Hird, the same sources said, does not expect to be in contact with the Bombers until they outline their coaching criteria after a subcommittee is formed.
Hird was contacted for comment.
Assistant coach Dean Solomon will have his first game as interim coach on Sunday when the Bombers, with only one win in their past 24 games, face West Coast in Perth. Hird is a long-time friend and supporter of Solomon as a coach.
Assistant coach Ben Jacobs and club psychologist Ben Robbins quit on Friday out of loyalty to Scott.
Coaching great Mick Malthouse told ABC radio he felt the Bombers’ process was a “sham” and the outcome had already been decided, with Hird returning to the club.
“It will be a sham, it smells already,” Malthouse said.
“You can almost see those that are around, those that have any sort of position have already pushed the button.
“The fact that James has said, ‘Yeah I’d love to have the job’, and there’s nothing wrong with that, to say, ‘I would love the job’, but I just can’t see how any senior coach that’s out of the game would put his hand up and go I’m going through that. It’s already been decided.
“And any young bloke will go through it just for the process of understanding what it’s like to be interviewed.”
However, former Collingwood coach and now Geelong assistant Nathan Buckley, keen to again be a senior coach, refused to buy into Malthouse’s claim, and could run for either the vacant Carlton or Essendon jobs. Buckley said his focus remained on being Tasmania’s inaugural coach.
Sydney’s 2012 premiership coach John Longmire said through the week he was seeking more information about Essendon’s plans.
AFL great Leigh Matthews, a four-time premiership great, said Essendon was dealing with a “messy situation”.
“The whole thing is so complicated when you have got the prodigal son who has been out of football at the AFL level for a long time, but is so popular, I guess, with some factions around the club, very powerful factions. It is a messy situation that you are dealing with,” Matthews said on 3AW.
Coaching great Kevin Sheedy, Hird’s former coach and the man who guided the club to four flags, said through the week that to coach Essendon “you have got to love Essendon”, which Hird does.
Matthews said that comment did not make sense.
“That is a ridiculous statement because, once you are involved in a club, like I loved Hawthorn when I played there, I couldn’t have loved Collingwood any more than the decade I was there, and the decade I was at the Lions – I mean, once you are immersed in the club, after a few months, it is your club, and it’s the centre of your existence,” he said.
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
