FALLEN footy great James Hird is in secret talks over a shock return to the game.
The former Essendon coach is in discussions about pairing up with exiled former Footy Show host Garry Lyon on SEN radio.
Lyon is making his own comeback to football after battling mental illness and fall out from his relationship with Billy Brownless’s ex-wife, Nicky.
The surprise move would see Hird and Lyon team up on SEN’s Friday night football coverage and occasionally on Lyon’s new weekday SEN breakfast show.
A meeting was held earlier this week but the network is weighing up whether combining football’s two highest-profile bad boys could alienate its audience.
A rival station has also sought Hird’s signature just 16 months after his messy departure as Bombers coach.
Hird, 43, was a star media performer with Fox Footy before taking on the Essendon coaching job in 2011.
He plans on living permanently in Melbourne despite his burgeoning overseas business interests.
Hird’s career came crashing down after the Essendon 2012 supplements saga which resulted in him being suspended by the AFL for 12 months for bringing the game into disrepute.
Despite this he still negotiated a new contract extension with the Bombers and then returned as senior coach in 2015.
Hird, who coached Essendon into the finals in his first season, struggled on his return and was forced to resign after the Bombers humiliating 112-point loss to Adelaide in Round 20.
He will avoid having to call his old club until the second half of the season with Essendon only having two Friday night games in 2017.
Lyon has been active behind the scenes in organising his own return to the airwaves at SEN, the station he helped launch in 2004.
While the all-star breakfast show line-up has yet to be finalised, Lyon will be joined by Essendon champion Tim Watson with SEN also keen to get Channel Seven’s Hamish McLachlan.
Former Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan could also play a role.
This week Lyon confirmed his return to television in 2017 on Footy Classified.
He won’t be returning to his former role as Footy Show host where he was replaced by Rebecca Maddern