Whatever James Hird does next, it’s time for him to shed the entourage

James Hird’s response to the revelation that Mark McVeigh planned to meet him this week to discuss an official club role should serve as a warning sign to the new coach and everyone else at the Bombers looking to welcome him back in some capacity.

Hird, whose public performances alongside Footy Classified host Eddie McGuire on Nine (the owner of this masthead) have punctuated his redemption campaign, is now calling for privacy as he considers his professional future. That seems a bit rich.

Fair play to him – his supporters insist his disappointment was genuine. They say key Essendon bosses asked him to keep the meeting confidential. And, whether or not you believe Hird was deluded to think he could win a senior coaching role given his absence from the elite competition for the best part of 12 years, he has clearly been badly bruised by missing out. And the bruising has not yet healed.

But this from the coaching candidate whose interview with the Bombers’ selection panel was reported by this masthead in stunning detail. Those details were published by my colleague in The Age on the day McVeigh was unveiled and became public despite all candidates signing privacy declarations. I don’t know who leaked those details, and it’s immaterial who did; the fact is they did leak and Hird has not complained about that.

When Hird missed out on the job, he wished his great mate McVeigh and his old club only the best.

Surely, it would have been prudent to bury any resentment about a perceived leak – particularly so soon into McVeigh’s tenure, and particularly when McVeigh seemed so genuine at his press conference about exploring a future working relationship with his friend and former captain.

President Andrew Welsh also did not rule out a role for Hird at the club. The true news value in my report on Seven’s The Agenda Setters on Tuesday night about the Hird-Essendon meeting was that he was at least considering another lesser role at the club. He had previously said his only professional interest in his old club was the senior coaching role.

As has often been the case with Hird over the past two decades, he has been badly advised. To be brutal, McGuire, his leading and highly dramatic media enabler, has not always served him well.

Certainly, McGuire didn’t help on Channel Nine on Tuesday night when he put forward his conspiracy theory that the Bombers had leaked news of the forthcoming meeting to harm Hird’s reputation. That the leak was a “set-up”. As the reporter closest to the story, I can say it definitely was not.

While it is difficult to say whether everyone at Essendon is keen to employ Hird in some role, the motivations behind the proposed meeting seemed, at the very least, to come from respect for him.

You could argue Hird did not show the club the same respect when, on the very day McVeigh made his public debut as senior coach, Hird stated on Channel Nine that he was “pretty sure” Zach Merrett would have remained a Bomber had he won the job.

Kevin Sheedy has not been helpful to his premiership captain, either. In his latest attack on the club, the retired coach declared that whoever leaked news of the proposed meeting was out to embarrass Hird and if the leaker was inside the Hangar, “get rid of them”.

How can Sheedy seriously talk about leaks having been soul-destroying for Essendon supporters for years? This is Sheedy, who as a board member when Brad Scott was appointed Essendon coach, declared to a journalist that the decision was not unanimous and that he had voted for Hird. Someone needs to step in to save Sheedy and his legacy from himself.

But Hird needs to rise above the McGuire theatrics and Sheedy’s nonsense. And the powerbrokers – like former president and Hird backer Paul Little – who remain influential long after their reign has ended.

Hird, more than anyone, should understand the pitfalls of placing trust in the wrong people. All of the above individuals may have been motivated by their belief in Hird, but they are not helping him. To return to a coaching career, he needs to be his own man and shed the entourage.

Colleague Jake Niall, the chief football writer of The Age, likened Hird’s bid to coach Essendon again to a political campaign. He also described it as a “media circus”. Certainly, what transpired did not dispel the notion from Hird disciples that they still regarded him as a messiah and almost bigger than the club.

What helped spark that circus was the reality of two rival Tuesday night football shows in The Agenda Setters and Footy Classified.

It could have been so different.

If Hird still harbours a desire to return to senior coaching, that desire cannot reside with Essendon alone. He should do what he should have done four years ago. Back then, rather than stewing and reporting that he was misled by then-president David Barham while his supporters undermined Scott, Hird should have taken the hint, gone back on the tools like Nathan Buckley, and expanded his repertoire at another AFL club. A true coach would do that, and it is by no means too late for Hird. He is only 53.

Hird said on Tuesday night he remained unsure whether he would keep his appointment with the Bombers. He would do well to take the meeting and clear the air.

But in his heart of hearts, Hird would know that his friend McVeigh requires clear air and a clean slate for his rookie season in what remains one of the biggest challenges in the game.

At least one other Melbourne-based AFL club has made a serious bid for Hird’s services. He should take that meeting, too.

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