Behind the unprecedented campaign for Hird, and Essendon’s response

The marathon Essendon coach search process that ended with Mark McVeigh’s anointment had elements of a reality television program, beginning, as it did, with James Hird putting his hand up on Footy Classified alongside his friend Eddie McGuire and staking his claim, triggering a media circus.

The push for Hird was, in my recollections of covering dozens of coach hirings, the first time a coaching position had been subject to something resembling a political campaign, even if the candidate’s wares were mainly pushed by supporters – visible and unseen – rather than by the reticent Hird, himself.

There were endorsements, naturally headed by Kevin Sheedy’s advocacy, the coaching legend having dissented from the board’s decision to hire Brad Scott in late 2022 and remained Hird’s most vocal backer.

Michael Long quickly endorsed old teammate Hird, Matthew Lloyd semi-endorsed his former skipper’s return (saying the club’s state was so dire Hird might be a necessary tonic), ex-board member and ’60s player Greg Brown jumped on board, and the last of “the Essendon 34” on an AFL list, Jake Melksham, offered qualified support when asked at a media conference.

Another important player barracking for Hird was the algorithm. The media craved Hird-bait.

A number of media commentators clamoured aboard the Hird express, with varying levels of enthusiasm. A succession of media reports or commentary followed suggesting that Essendon would be restored if only the club decided to bring back their exiled prince as senior coach.

These were a version of campaign promises. Again, the pledges of prosperity might not have been Hird’s handiwork, but the following was supposed to happen if he landed the job:

1. Money would gush forth in the club coffers due to the high regard that high worth supporters held for Hird and the growth in memberships.
2. Players such as Toby Greene would be approached and sounded out if Hird was coach, due to their connection (from their GWS days).
3. Zach Merrett would remain at “the Hangar”, rather than seeking a trade to Hawthorn or another foreign state.
4. Essendon would be galvanised and united with a common purpose (which bespoke a view that they were divided now).
5. Hird, himself, said he was interested only in the position of senior coach, and not other roles in the football department.

The assertion of these benefits for Essendon if they chose Hird were not necessarily helpful to his cause. Some on the club’s board didn’t like the campaigning when they were seeking an objective process.

President Andrew Welsh, and his board, knew well that Paul Little, the ex-president and billionaire club backer, was in the background as a formidable Hird ally. Welsh had met with Little weeks ago and, while Little wanted Hird back, unlike Sheedy he refrained from public comment.

None of the other coaching candidates, including the successful McVeigh, had such claims made on their behalf. McVeigh, as it happened, would speak to Greene, who is still favoured to join Geelong if he leaves GWS.

The Welsh board held firm in the face of this apparent campaign, which, in concert with Dean Solomon’s role as caretaker (a mate of Welsh, like McVeigh) – arguably deterred a raft of senior coaches and well-regarded assistants from considering the job. Ken Hinkley had suggested as much, albeit he was en route to landing the Tasmania Devils gig.

Where Carlton had a full list of contenders to pick from (and didn’t need them), the Bombers were dealing with a compromised coach draft, as Ken Hinkley, Nathan Buckley, Corey Enright, James Kelly and others passed.

Upon McVeigh’s appointment, it was not surprising that both Lindsay Tanner, the former federal finance minister and ex-Essendon president, and Tim Watson, perhaps the most influential Essendon great in the media, called for an outbreak of peace and an acceptance of the club’s verdict.

Tanner had made comments to this masthead calling for unity before he knew which candidate had been selected by the Welsh-led board.

The potential for discord, or even an uprising, had been signalled in the days before McVeigh’s anointment, when a long-time member threatened to spill the board if the prodigal son Hird was not restored to what a sizeable faction of fans still believed was his rightful perch, 11 years after he and Essendon parted.

What followed was a well-orchestrated 48 hours of media and stakeholder management by Essendon, in which McVeigh took centre stage and performed well enough to douse the disappointment felt by a portion of Hird’s rusted-on followers, including well-heeled club backers.

McVeigh went on the hustings: the full media conference alongside Welsh and chief executive Tim Roberts, the compulsory SEN Breakfast with Watson and Garry Lyon, an interview by influencer Daniel Gorringe. On Wednesday evening, he addressed Essendon’s famed coteries and donors in the CBD.

Today, there seems little prospect of the threatened storming of the barricades on behalf of Hird, and there is no longer the problem of appeasing those in the Never Hird camp.

It was helpful, of course, that McVeigh was a Hird-proximate candidate, a close friend of the ex-coach and champion, and that both the successful McVeigh and Hird spoke affectionately of one another, even as Hird expressed his considerable disappointment (on Footy Classified, aired on Nine – the owner of this masthead) to have been overlooked for the second time in four years.

McVeigh’s resolute media performances – and presentations to other stakeholders, within and outside Essendon – have certainly helped the Bombers deal with a potentially fraught appointment.

One could see a touch of friendly, yet competitive, kind of sibling rivalry between not only Hird and McVeigh but between McVeigh and Solomon, the caretaker who might have been a huge show for the job had the Bombers improved markedly following Scott’s removal.

They didn’t.

Over the past few weeks, the competition for the coaching job had narrowed to a race between outsiders Jaymie Graham and Murray Davis and the Essendon pair.

If Hird was the rock star and most contentious candidate, McVeigh’s advantage was that his Essendon passport had been stamped for lengthy stays at foreign lands that have seen a level of success, i.e. Sydney and GWS.

Essendon insist that he was the stand out of the four, even if Graham had been the perceived frontrunner for Carlton’s coach role before the hoodied Josh Fraser secured the position by winning almost every week.

Where does this outcome leave Hird, who is one of few AFL figures with the story arc of the protagonist in a Greek tragedy? The same qualities that made him a champion on the field of battle have conspired against him in his coaching life; he refused – in federal court in 2014 during the ASADA saga, and twice again when hunting for the Essendon coaching job, to settle or accept defeat.

Having pursued the job, with the ruthless drive that marked his playing career, it is striking that he has said that he will consider working for other clubs. There is a sense that he and Essendon have both bowed to the reality of modern coaching pathways.

McVeigh might not be blessed with the charisma of Hird, or of his flock of followers, but he had done the hard yards as an assistant during that decade when Hird had preferred business over full-bore footy.

The redemption campaign, which turned into a political one by dint of unique Hird’s cult-like following and history, need not happen at Essendon.

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