James Hird has confirmed he will meet with Essendon next week, as the club begins the initial stages of the process to find its next senior coach.
The Bombers reportedly want someone who understands the inner workings of the club to take the reins, putting Hird and interim coach Dean Solomon in the box seat, though they will likely canvas a dozen candidates in the process.
On the tools: James Hird in his role as director of coaching at Port Melbourne. Getty Images
The former Dons coach says he has a plan for the future direction of the club and will begin laying that out for them.
“Essendon has spoken about the process and I’m just looking forward to going through the process, it’s going to be an exhaustive process, and next week I’ll sit down with them and have a brief catch-up,” Hird told Nine’s Footy Classified.
“I got a text from someone at the club asking for a catch-up next week and I think it’ll be a number of steps if you get all the way (through the process).
“I’m glad they’re going through a process. I always said they would go through an extensive process. That’s what everyone at Essendon and every supporter wants.
“Obviously, I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve thought about what I want to do, the things I will do if I do get the job and get through the process, but it’s also in conjunction with what the club wants.
“The club has been very forthright in saying they want someone who will come in and do it ‘the Essendon way’ and do the job in conjunction with Essendon, so I think part of the first meeting is finding out what they want, what I would like to do, and how that mixes.”
Hird said he has people around the AFL industry in mind for assistant coaches should he land the job, but he won’t be divulging who at this early stage of the process.
“You can’t (mention names) because you have no idea if you’re going to get the job or not,” Hird said.
“I’ve got people who I’d love to work with and people who I have got in mind, but until you have some mind about whether you’re anywhere near the job, I think it would be wrong to reach out to people and ask them because how do they know (that you’ll get the job).”
Essendon will likely have another busy trade period, with Zach Merrett, Jordan Ridley, Darcy Parish and potentially others likely to request moves to rival clubs.
Merrett and Ridley did so in 2025, wanting to get to Hawthorn and Brisbane respectively, and they are expected to do the same at the end of this season.
Hird said his hope would be, if appointed coach, to get in front of anybody wanting out and see if he can change a few minds.
“You’d want to know which players they think are going to stay and which aren’t, you’d want to know what your list is going to look like,” Hird said.
“That’s one of the questions you’d be asking the club, where they think the list is at and you’ve got your own ideas on those players.
“If you were lucky enough to get the job, you’d certainly want to sit down with the players who potentially are going to leave who you want to stay and sell them the dream and see if you can keep them, if you want them to stay.”
Essendon is currently languishing in 18th spot on the ladder. They’ve won one game for the season and haven’t won a match in Victoria for over 12 months at this point, leading to the sacking of Brad Scott.
They were belted by St Kilda in round 17 to the tune of 67 points, with Solomon still winless as caretaker coach. They now head to Brisbane for the daunting task of taking on the Lions at the Gabba.