With James Hird all-in on a return to Essendon, one of the key points of curiosity relates to how long he has spent out of the AFL coaching ranks and whether someone in that boat can step straight back into a top job without having been immersed in the year-to-year coaching rigours and tactical evolutions that often leave many behind.
Put any other critiques of Hird as a reasonable candidate to one side, should someone who has been effectively out of the coaching ranks since 2015 step straight back to the top role after 12 years?
James Hird with his son Tom at Port Melbourne. Getty Images
Nathan Buckley is a solid comparison, given he missed out on the Melbourne job in 2025, having spent four years out of the game and in the media, after parting ways with Collingwood in 2021.
He now has his eyes firmly on the inaugural Tasmanian coaching role, and seemingly has for the last 12 months.
However, in order to increase his readiness for the Tassie job, were he to land it, he has joined Geelong as an assistant coach working under Chris Scott for the 2026 season.
This would give him 12 months alongside one of the best coaches in the sport and presumably bring him up to speed on anything he has missed across the last five years.
By comparison, Hird spent a year in a part-time capacity working with GWS in 2022 and has served as director of coaching for VFL team Port Melbourne since the start of 2025. He has been outside the AFL word largely since his controversial departure from Essendon in 2015.
Interestingly, Scott praised Buckley publicly for his decision to return to the coaching ranks as part of preparing himself for a return to a top job, in a manner that could easily be viewed as a veiled shot at Hird.
“It’s impressed me that he has acknowledged that even with that passion that he has realised how long he has been out of the coaching game and how much has changed,” Scott told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’m not sure, but I suspect (Buckley) decided a little while ago that yes, he would like the chance to be a senior coach again and that only really happens if you get back into an apprenticeship (assistant coach) role and get up to speed with the modern game, it doesn’t matter who you are.
“To an extent, every now and then, I’m kind of a bit starstruck with Bucks walking around, but he hasn’t used that gravitas to cut corners on the work he’s had to do.”
Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes certainly picked up on those Hird-related undertones, telling SEN: “I don’t know if he intentionally did that, but he’s far too smart to use those words and not be having a reference to someone over there in black and (red).”
Obviously, Chris Scott is the brother of Brad Scott, who was sacked as Essendon coach earlier in the season – the same role Hird is now trying to win. Another layer to consider in all of this.
Regardless, getting back to the initial question posed, it’s fair to say that Hird landing the Essendon job for 2027, after 12 years effectively out of the AFL coaching fraternity, would be unprecedented; And clearly Chris Scott sees that as too large of a hill to climb.
Is he right?
Looking at the recent history of coaches who have left their club, worked in the media or outside of the coaching ranks and then returned, the max limit appears to be no more than four-ish years.
Nathan Buckley has reintegrated to coaching at the Cats via Getty Images
Paul Roos is a great example. He departed Sydney in 2010 with a premiership to his name, handing the reins to John Longmire, and then became coach of Melbourne in 2014.
In that three-year gap, Roos did work for the Swans’ junior academy, but he primarily served as a media figure.
He then took over Melbourne at one of its lowest ever ebbs and helped build the foundations of a strong club before creating another succession plan, this time to Simon Goodwin, who would go on to lead the club to a premiership in 2021.
A three-year gap spent mostly outside the AFL system, but it’s hard to view Roos’ second stint as anything other than a success.
Ross Lyon had a very similar timeline between departing Fremantle in 2019 and returning to St Kilda at the end of 2022.
During his three years outside of the AFL system, Lyon worked in a high-profile media capacity and turned his attention to commercial real estate, before the Saints lured him back.
St Kilda has not had rampaging success under the veteran coach to this point of his second stint, but you wouldn’t put that down to a loss of tactical or coaching acumen from his time out of the game. That feels more to do with the quality of his list.
Ross Lyon, head coach of St Kilda. Getty
Rodney Eade had four years between coaching the Bulldogs and coaching the Suns, but spent that time at Collingwood as director of coaching.
Michael Voss needed eight years after being sacked by Brisbane to earn his second chance at Carlton, spending all of those as an assistant coach at Port Adelaide. Brett Ratten had a similar pathway between his Carlton exit in 2012 and the St Kilda job in 2019.
Kevin Sheedy left Essendon in 2007 and didn’t coach his first game at GWS until 2012, but was hired in 2009 and spent the first few years building the club from scratch.
Brad Scott, ironically, spent three years outside of the coaching ranks between North Melbourne and Essendon, working at AFL House in various executive roles.
Going back further, Leigh Matthews was sacked by Collingwood in 1995 before being hired by Brisbane in 1999. Matthews spent those three years mostly in the media, but still coached Victoria for State of Origin and Australia for the International Rules series against Ireland.
Naturally, Matthews’ stint at the Lions was a reasonable success, winning three straight premiership between 2001 and 2003 and making the 2004 grand final.
And more recently, Roos and Lyon have had similar stints out of the game and quickly found their footing as senior coaches once again.
All three of those gaps out of the game were just three years. Buckley at what would have been five years for the Melbourne job felt he needed to return to the assistant coaching ranks to blow off some rust.
Chris Scott clearly feels that move was a necessary one. Whether he was truly taking a little jab at Hird in the process, he’ll never tell us, but it’s hard to deny.
Hird however has backed himself in to be ready for the Essendon job regardless and is firmly in the running. History says 12 years outside of the four walls of an AFL club, barring that short stint at GWS, before becoming a senior coach, is unprecedented.
Only time will tell whether the Bombers baulk at hiring him because of it.