Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Coaching candidate Ken Hinkley has urged Essendon to come clean on whether the vacant role is James Hird’s to lose, as it emerged the club has a $3 million war chest to splurge on elite talent and a belief it could challenge for a flag within two years.
As Bombers great Kevin Sheedy declared he was confident Hird, 53, would not waste a third chance to coach the club, Hinkley – a potential candidate to replace the axed Brad Scott – said he wants the Bombers to clarify whether Hird has all but won the top job.
Hinkley, the former Port Adelaide coach and long-time assistant coach, said he would not express potential interest until the Bombers made their position clear. He said it appeared to be Hird’s job for the taking, and other candidates would not be truly considered.
“It looks like, it’s somewhat James Hird’s job … they need to clear the air with that first,” Hinkley told SEN on Wednesday.
“I don’t think anyone would be prepared to be in the race too deep, unless in some ways you are involved in Essendon with their history. That [clarification] would be important to me.
“It looks like James Hird and then someone else. They have every right to do that, and that’s their call.”
When contacted on Wednesday, a Bombers’ spokesman pointed to president Andrew Welsh’s comments on Tuesday, insisting it would be an open process.
Dean Solomon, a 2000 premiership Bomber, will be interim coach, with former defender Michael Hurley stepping up from a development role to replace Solomon as defensive coach, the Bombers confirmed on Wednesday.
Four-time premiership coach Sheedy, who as a Bombers board director four years ago broke ranks and publicly confirmed he backed Hird when Scott won the job, said Hird was a man who could galvanise the struggling Bombers.
Sheedy maintains that to “to coach Essendon, you’ve got to love Essendon”, and insists Hird, a two-time premiership player and former captain, still does despite his tumultuous departure in 2015 amid the supplements saga.
“I think he does, and I think he’ll do anything to make sure he gets this right this time around, if he ever gets it,” Sheedy said.
“But he may not get it, there might be people at Essendon that may never want him to coach Essendon. I don’t know who they are, but I think, in the end, the people and the fans most likely do.
“I don’t know what the sort of feeling is around town, but I would think that if he got a chance, he wouldn’t muck this one up.”
Hird has declared he wants the job, but has called on the Bombers to run a professional process.
“The most important thing for me as an Essendon person, and what I want to see that football club do … is for them to go through the most exhaustive process possible to find the best person to be the coach of the Essendon Football Club,” Hird said on Footy Classified, where he is a regular panelist.
“If the club came to me [and said]: ‘Would you be part of that process?’ I would definitely say yes. That is something I would love to be part of – pit my wares against the other coaches [to find] the best man for the job.”
Hird’s initial stint as coach began in 2011 when fellow club great Mark Thompson was his senior assistant, but the supplements scandal, which broke in 2013, all but destroyed his tenure. He was suspended by the AFL in 2014 but returned for the 2015 campaign, only to part ways with the club that season. Overall, he won 41 of 85 games as coach.
He returned to coaching as an assistant with Greater Western Sydney in 2022, and is now director of coaching for VFL club Port Melbourne. He is also a panelist on Footy Classified on Nine, owner of this masthead.
Scott, in an interview on the AFL website, said his successor would have the advantage of a $3 million war chest to help advance a deep rebuild which has contributed to the Bombers winning only one of their past 24 games.
“We have built a war chest over the last three years of dry powder in the salary cap, it’s going to be really exciting for the football club,” Scott said.
“To have well in excess of $3 million of dry powder to go and acquire players, that’s something that, in the short term, [we could have said]: ‘Gee, we have got to win three or four more games in a year’, [so] you just go and recruit some players at other clubs that are underpaid and bring them in and look for a short-term fix.
“I was never going to be a part of that. And, if the club wanted to go down that path, I would have stepped aside because I don’t believe in that.”
Scott claimed the club’s list boss Matt Rosa and his department believed the Bombers could challenge for a flag within two years.
“I think in pure demographics, I think the list management team, led very well by Matt Rosa, would think that they are probably a year or two away from being genuine contenders, but the job of a coach is to exceed and accelerate that timeline,” Scott said.
Scott said forward Nate Caddy was a “special person”, tipped Isaac Kako to be the “best small forward in the competition in a very short period of time”, while describing Archie Roberts as being of the “highest calibre”.
Chris Scott fielded two questions on Wednesday about his twin brother’s demise at Essendon, but flat-batted each. “I just don’t talk about these things publicly,” the Geelong coach said.
He was also asked whether Hird could step into the top role having not been a senior coach for more than a decade. “I think it’d be a question for that person and that prospective club to answer. I couldn’t do it,” he said.
Sheedy, who stepped down from the board in 2024, said it did not matter that Hird had not been a senior coach for more than a decade.
“Well, I’d never coached before I got the job at Essendon,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy said he would help Hird, should the 253-game great return to the club.
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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.
