I don’t get all the carry on about this. Kid has chance to play AFL at Essendon, where his dad is a legend, says no thanks I want to play soccer. After a few tryouts, he discovers he’s not quite good enough for the top leagues, and doesn’t want to be just another A-League hack, so activates fallback plan A and decides he might give the AFL/Essendon option a go. Good luck to him.
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I hope he enjoys every moment of being in the club and pursuing a dream. Good luck to him in every way.
I also hope that supporters give him a fair go regarding expectations. James Hird is an all-time great. There’s almost no chance that Tom or anyone else will be as good as James. For my part, I just plan on enjoying watching his journey and celebrating that he is at the club at all.
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do you know that for a fact though?
may not have been the contract he wanted i guess…???
Looks a lot like his mum I reckon.
Edit: oh wait I just saw the ears
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Not a sensible enough haircut.
Delist
Really looking forward to see how he goes. In only a brief glimpse I saw, he looks to have the smarts. If he is half as good as his father, he will be very good.
Switching topics slightly, read here about the Davey twins a bit. Are they really that good? Could someone point me to a thread?
buuutt, on the internet things don’t really work like that, do they?
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Cant wait to see him pull on a Bombers jumper. Good luck Tommy.
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He doesn’t need to be a club captain, Brownlow medalist and dual premiership player for me to be happy. I couldn’t care less who captains the team.
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Did Essendon pull a swifty? Four burning questions regarding son of a gun’s shock signing
- March 6, 2020 1:53pm
- Matt Balmer@mattbalmer7
- Source: FOX SPORTS
Mar 19 2020
7:25PM
James Hird’s son Tom Hird has signed on as a Category B for Essendon.Source: Supplied
As Essendon announced the son of one of its greatest players, James, would grace Tullamarine for the next two years, there were some surprised reactions across the AFL community.
That’s because he hasn’t played footy in a few years
Tom Hird, rather, is a talented soccer player and recently trialled in the Netherlands. He also completed a trial at Stoke City as a youngster.
Now, he joins Essendon as a non-registered athlete, signing as a Category B rookie.
But how can the son of a 253-game player walk through to the club for free without entering the draft? And how is he eligible for a Category B rookie?
Foxfooty.com.au breaks down one of the AFL’s more intriguing pre-season signings.
DID ESSENDON PULL A SWIFTY?
No, by the letter of the AFL rules, the Bombers were able to sign Tom Hird.
Yet it didn’t even have to be Essendon, given players who have not been registered or played in an Australian football competition for three years are able to immediately join an AFL club as a Category B rookie.
How the Bombers unveiled the signing.Source: Supplied
It wasn’t Essendon using a loophole, given the 17 rival clubs certainly could’ve reached out to the Hird family and asked him to train. However, there is no doubting there was romance involved.
Hird has also been part of the club’s academy and trained with the club in recent times.
“Every club has what is called a Category B rookie spot. So they can have one or they can have 100 of them, they are outside the salary cap,” Player agent and former Bomber Adam Ramanauskas explained on RSN Breakfast.
“The player that you select cannot be registered in an AFL competition within a minimum of three years. Essendon are not breaking the rules or stretching the rules, every club had the opportunity to sign Tom Hird if they wanted to.
“Obviously the name holds a little bit of weight at Essendon and I know Tom had been in their next-generation academy and training there occasionally. But he showed an interest in wanting to sign. I don’t think anybody has seen him play.”
IS THIS REALLY WHAT CATEGORY B ROOKIES ARE FOR?
In 2006, the AFL introduced a new scheme where clubs could have two international rookies (excluding Irish recruits) outside of the rookie list.
The Category B rookie scheme was adjusted in 2010 to include players from other sports, while also giving clubs access to Next Generation Academy (NGA) prospects via the national draft.
The rules allowed Joel Smith, son of Dees great Shaun, to sign with Melbourne from 2016, while Alex Keath was listed by Adelaide despite attempting to gain a cricket contract in South Australia.
The NGA rules were also questioned when Lachlan Johnson, the son of three-time premiership Lion Chris Johnson, was able to be drafted by Essendon as an academy selection.
Tom Hird (centre) in his younger days.Source: News Limited
But in none of these three cases have the clubs in question broken a rule.
Still, it hasn’t stopped the feedback coming in quick and fast, with suggestions the rule was more implemented for players outside an AFL background, rather than those with direct connections to the sport, such as a father who played in the competition.
WHAT IS THE FEEDBACK FROM RIVAL CLUBS AND SNUBBED DRAFTEES?
When contacted by foxfooty.com.au, a number of rival recruiters weren’t overly concerned by Essendon’s signing of Hird.
The signing was somewhat out of the blue, with the teenager seeming a relatively longshot to feature in the AFL.
But it was a number of anonymous overlooked draft prospects that were left most frustrated.
One snubbed player suggested the Bombers’ signing was a “slap in the face”, considering all the hard work he had to do over recent times to push his draft case.
Hird hasn’t played Aussie rules for over three years, so therefore hasn’t needed to put the training sessions in to help himself get selected by an AFL club at the national draft.
The general feeling among overlook prospects is ‘why not me?’, given they fight so hard to earn spots on an AFL list yet might be overlooked for a Category B rookie, who‘s well below them in terms of their skills.
WHAT IS TOM LIKE ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD?
Now for the million-dollar question: Will Tom ever play an AFL game?
The majority of Category B rookies are longshots, hence they’re given longer contracts. So time will tell as to whether another generation of Hird players grace the MCG.
What we know of Hird is that he’s a left-footer and still very skinny, so he’ll need to hit the gym hard. But as explained by Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast, Hird is a “project player” who has “unbelievable endurance and great skill."
On all counts, the Tom Hird situation is a ‘watch this space’ one.
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Moves like Joel Reynolds
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Well, what he should do is quit football for three years, then push his case again.
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Spot they aren’t entitled to based on CatB rules
I’m sure same can be said for Irish rookies who’ve never played the game growing up either
Article just looking for at least some negative spin
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or send a nasty email to Dodoro
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It appears I can safely add Matt Balmer to the “do not bother reading” list then…
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Instead, make yourself a “do bother reading” list. It’ll be significantly shorter.
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The journalist Should have clarified here that However, Essendon drafted him in the main draft as Brisbane did not rate him higher than a rookie selection.
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Shows a hint of luxury.
Give the boy time.
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Why anyone in the afl universe would complain about it beggars believing seeing it probably made him play soccer in the first place.
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