James Hird Writes for Herald Sun

AFL have no rights in stopping someone from running for the EFC Board. It’s called democracy. The board represent the members, the members vote in the Board committee, the board committee hire the CEO to run the club.

Thankfully this is an area the AFL and the media have no influence on Club decisions. And it was represented with the tantrum Wilson chucked, because the members chose board members that didn’t represent the AFL’s best interests.

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Can picture his return to the club being as the ‘Comeback Hero’ for the final game of the year against Freo.

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If it’s as luxurious as his hair it will be a winner.

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Podcast of Jim on radio yesterday promoting his new business.

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Freo is the most principled club in the AFL

  1. They were the only one who did not support the stitch-up that the AFL and the other 16 clubs ganged up against us.

  2. When the AFL killed off one of the eight foundation clubs, they did that mercilessly and without any sentiments or regard for 100+ years of tradition, even going to the bastardly lengths of scheduling their last game in Perth. Fremantle took it upon themselves to honour that club and it’s tradition, and to give it an appropriate send-off.

I could not give a sh1te about the AFL of the other 16 clubs

I only care about Essendon.

But I will have a soft spot for Fremantle for these efforts.

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freo also got no leg up like the new clubs now.

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I just think it makes sense considering the big marketing ploy for the club is our “Comeback Story” and I just think it would be the perfect way to bring him back. By letting the fans know Hirdy will be there, it can help ensure a decent crowd and I genuinely believe it would be a great moment to see him walking out into the middle with the match ball, hopefully receiving a great reaction. Just so happens that Freo are the club we’re coming up against.

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Screw Fremantle.

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Nah, screw Sydney

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Screw you, too.

Boooooooooo!

No, you are!

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Besides, your dad is better than his dad.

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Didn’t know where else to put this but thought you might like to know/see it.

Edit: the link is from Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTiKbrYldlV/

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James Hird says Collingwood will be a top four team by June next year
JAMES HIRD, Herald Sun
11 minutes ago
Subscriber only

NATHAN Buckley must be the coolest cat in footy.

Last Sunday, while out for a run on a glorious Melbourne autumn morning, I came across a junior football game. A group of wide-eyed youngsters in the distinctive blue Prahran jumper were looking starstruck at their coach.

Sunday was meant to be a Charge of the Light Brigade for Bucks. Media pundits said he had no chance against the might of Geelong, with Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield poised to pick over the carcass of Collingwood.

But there was Buckley on that Sunday morning. Calm, relaxed and enjoying the game in its purest form as he coached a group of eight-year-olds to victory. I doubt he was as composed five hours later, but he did manage to silence a lot of his critics with a well coached and executed performance against the Cats.

Being an AFL senior coach is like no other job I have experienced. I have never operated on someone, guided a mission to the moon or sent young men to their death in war. All these roles carry far greater significance in life than that of an AFL coach, but the pressure and stress that comes with being an AFL coach is unique and mostly unhealthy.

I suspect that most of the pressure derives from the personality type. High-achieving, intense characters with a fair slice of ego, who are used to getting their own way, are the norm in AFL coaching circles. But it is more than this that sends most coaches into a ball of tension come game day.

A coach’s job is never done. AFL is not a game of perfection. Every day is different and the game never leaves you. It can be present when driving in the car, sitting at the table for dinner or lying in bed. The brain always takes you back to the job.

Before coaching, my last thoughts before I fell asleep were normally about my family, my beautiful wife lying next to me and my kids. My first thoughts in the morning were similar, but that quickly changed after a month as coach.

I soon fell asleep counting hamstring strains or contested ball numbers and, upon waking, I was not thinking about what the kids wanted on their toast but instead, who was going to tag Gary Ablett or Chris Judd and why we couldn’t keep the ball inside our forward 50.

Coaching became an all-consuming role. A work-life-balance and time out are foreign to most coaches and I am pleased to see the AFL and the AFL Coaches Association tackling some of the issues.

The best time as a coach is the hour after a win.

Once the press conference is complete you can sit with your staff for a few minutes, have a laugh and relax before the preparations for next week start.

Most senior and assistant coaches are back into work within hours of the final siren. On a regular night, 3-4 hours after a game, senior and assistant coaches will be hunched over computer screens, dissecting the game from three different camera angles and searching for the reasons they won or lost.

It is called coding; picking out individual video edits that help to explain the game each week. Many a night I received or sent a text to my assistant coaches that had some sort of expletive in it about coding. Sometimes this is where the game is won or lost, but normally a football game is won by the players. The coach’s relationship with them is crucial.

Building and maintaining those relationships is the most rewarding yet difficult part of the job. A coach’s phone is always on and your brain is always thinking about how to get the best out of every player.
James Hird leaves the ground following an Essendon loss in 2012. Picture: Getty Images

Management in every job is a lot about delegation, but you cannot delegate relationships. Every player on an AFL list wants a relationship with the senior coach and if a coach wants the best out of their players, it must be nurtured.

Bucks must be doing this well as his players are playing for him, he is building a good team, has a potentially great midfield and will get more from his forward line as the season progresses.

At two wins and four losses, finals will be difficult, but by June next year with Nathan Buckley in charge I believe Collingwood will be a top four team and have an exciting year in 2018.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/james-hird-says-collingwood-will-be-a-top-four-team-by-june-next-year/news-story/013d0f24881e45c5e6aa4d5012d6c4c6

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Erm…
Yeah…
Don’t think the Pies will be top 4 by the middle of next year. Maybe if they get an easy draw due to being so ■■■■■ this year, but all things being equal, I don’t see them being a top 4 team.

Good insight by Hirdy. Personally I can’t see what all the Collingwood fuss is about but perhaps that just reinforces the fact that I know less than nothing about coaching. :smile:

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Good point.

James Hird thought about who would tag the opposition best player.

Like.

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James Hird pumps up the tyres of a bloke who was under the media blowtorch but also would not support him in his darkest hour.

Each column provides even yet more further evidence that he is better than anyone else in the AFL community,

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