Fremantle not the only AFL club chasing James Hird
SAM EDMUND, Herald Sun
AT LEAST two AFL clubs are chasing James Hird as the exiled great weighs up a return to the game.
It has emerged Fremantle is not the first club to approach the former Essendon coach, who parted ways with the Bombers in 2015 in the wake of the supplements saga that saw him banned for a year.
“One other club, a senior coach, has expressed interest in hiring him,” AFL Coaches Association chief Mark Brayshaw told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“Fremantle aren’t the first and I don’t believe they will be the last.”
Hird, 45, is overseas and yet to announce his intentions, but Brayshaw said: “I would imagine it would be something he’s very excited about.
“It’s a ■■■■■■ good story.”
Speaking as a father, Brayshaw said he would relish Hird’s appointment at the Dockers, where his son Andrew is in his first season.
Brayshaw has two other sons, Angus (Melbourne) and Hamish (West Coast), also in the AFL.
“If it ends up that he helps my young bloke at Freo in one way or another, that would be wonderful,” he said.
The AFL has confirmed there was nothing to stop Hird accepting an official position at any club.
The Dockers contacted Hird about filling a Melbourne-based, part-time role as an opposition analyst.
An AFL source said there was “enormous goodwill” among the coaching fraternity for Hird, 14 months after a drug overdose resulted in him receiving care at a specialist mental health centre.
He waged a three-year fight to clear his name before buying into the chocolate industry.
Former Essendon assistant Robert Shaw said the timing was right for Hird to return to the game he loved.
“What a wonderful opportunity, to work not only with Ross (Lyon), but to be based in Melbourne, be part-time and to dip your toe back in the water,” Shaw said.
“I think it’s a sensational job for him. I hope Ross gives it to him and I so hope he takes it.”
Shaw also tweeted his support for Hird, adding that while the Bombers great wasn’t blameless, he was also let down.
“Super player — maybe a great coach. At that time, poor as leader/decision maker. I was angry that the club was harmed,” Shaw wrote.
“His mentors: weak and gutless. He paid a huge price. He will lift and rebuild. Not at EFC (Essendon Football Club). Return in time. Enough is enough.”
Hird’s premiership teammate Joe Misiti replied: “Well said Robert.”
Danny Corcoran, the football operations manager at Essendon while Hird was coach, said Hird would be a great acquisition.
AFL Hall of Fame legend Leigh Matthews also passed comment on the Essendon premiership player’s possible return to coaching ranks.
“James Hird as a part time opposition analyst, talk about over qualified, sounds a bit like Albert Einstein running errands for the science department,” Matthews tweeted.
Dual Brownlow medallist Chris Judd said Hird would be a “huge asset for any footy club”.
“He certainly took some missteps for which he paid an enormous price, but I think most people can forgive that and realise that he’s moved on,” Judd told Perth radio. “I suspect it’s only a matter of time before we do see a little bit more of him, either at clubland or back in the media.”