When Hird talks, players listen: Star’s footy journey since leaving Essendon

On Tuesday night, James Hird shocked many when he declared on Channel Nine’s Footy Classified he was keen to apply for the vacant Essendon coaching job, willing to go through a proper selection process and backing himself to win the role.

“If I’m the best man for the job, yes, I would love to do that job,” Hird said.

The statement, delivered with conviction, caused shockwaves, 11 years after the then 42-year-old coached the Bombers for the last time to a 112-point defeat against Adelaide at Marvel Stadium.

In his two stints, from 2011-2013 and then again for 19 matches in 2015, Hird coached Essendon in 85 matches for a 48.82 per cent winning record.

But any feats on the ground by the players or in the box by the club legend were overshadowed by what became known as the Essendon drugs saga, an ignominious period for the club and league which saw 34 past and present players miss 2016 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended them for anti-doping rule violations when Hird was senior coach.

What has he done to re-imagine himself as a serious candidate to coach the club he led to a premiership in 2000 during a playing career which had made him a hero to many Bombers fans?

Hird withdrew from public life after finishing as coach as he dealt with the personal fallout. He made his first official appearance at the 2017 grand final when he presented the Norm Smith Medal, as a previous winner, to Richmond’s Dustin Martin.

He threw himself into various business activities as he gradually began to use his engineering education, the global MBA he secured at the INSEAD program in France, and his investing experience to make a life outside the game continuing his connection to Gemba (now Tenka). He was involved in a company building alternative asset technology.

As he raised his four children, Stephanie, Tom, Alex and William, his most common public appearances came as he attempted to keep a low profile watching them play sport, including Tom’s stint in the VFL with Essendon in 2021 and 2022.

His connection grew, and he applied for Essendon’s vacant senior coaching position at the end of 2022, a rapid return to the fray after spending that year in leadership and coaching at the Giants in the relative anonymity of western Sydney, surrounded by lifelong friends, Mark McVeigh and Dean Solomon. Essendon chose Brad Scott.

Hird had been popular with the Giants’ players and staff, his connection with the players obvious. Those in charge noted he had not lost the senior coach’s ability to deal with many questions at once, but the reality was he was not ready to take the plunge. His moment appeared to have passed.

In 2023, he founded investment firm Euree Asset Management, a company which states its aim as being “a leading Australian-based funds management business”. The structure required for a productive life was re-established.

His son moved to Port Melbourne and in 2024, his connection to the Borough started on the sidelines watching Tom – who is now their captain – combine studies and football to make a name for himself at the VFL club.

Hird gradually came out of the shadows of the light towers surrounding North Port Oval as he got to know the people involved in his son’s club, merely a proud parent who happened to be one of the state’s most recognisable football identities.

Port Melbourne officials wondered whether he would consider becoming their senior coach in 2025.

It was not the right time to commit to the role but he wanted to be involved, so convinced Port Melbourne to appoint a former colleague, Brendan McCartney, as coach. Hird became director of coaching.

For the past two winters, Hird has spent Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights coaching under the dim lights at Port .

After spending last year on the boundary wearing headsets on game day, he now sits in the coaches box with McCartney. His non-compulsory Monday night goalkicking sessions started with three players. Half the squad now turn up.

He codes games for the forwards, is involved in selection and player development plans, and works with players on the track. McCartney is happy for Hird to present to the group whenever he wants.

Port Melbourne officials, who preferred to remain anonymous to speak freely, have noted his connection to players, ability to read the game and his emphasis on teaching players the fundamentals.

Current Essendon players Zach Merrett and Sam Durham have spoken in the past month of the influence he has had, and continues to have, on their careers.

Players have noted he picked the brains of those with AFL experience when on the track, strong in his philosophies yet open to new ideas and able to simplify his message, so all players could understand. He and McCartney are attempting to build a club, not just a team.

Off the field, he is part of the Footy Classified team, alongside former Magpies president and media star Eddie McGuire. His preparation includes watching every game of the previous round. Last year, he and another Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel were panellists on Nine’s Footy Furnace.

Now, he wants to make the leap back into senior coaching. He must show selection panels his football philosophies, centred around teaching the fundamentals, developing players on and off the field and connecting the club from the ground to the back office, can be transferred to the top level.

He is back in football, admitting to the mistakes he made in his first stint and his determination not to repeat them. There are doubters. There are backers. There are those who want him to get the chance to present.

Many opposition clubs think Essendon would be mad to return to Hird, their outlook best summed up with the famous Paul Keating line that the soufflé doesn’t rise twice, let alone three times.

But Hird’s love for Essendon runs deeper than the southern end of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. It was built over three generations and a brilliant 253-game playing career. He wants to lift Essendon off the bottom. Others will decide whether he is the man to do that.

“There are people who coach teams and there are people who coach clubs, and Hird is right to go to be the club coach at Essendon,” McGuire said.