{"id":649041,"date":"2026-05-04T12:59:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649041\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:59:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:59:30","slug":"afl-news-2026-james-hird-urges-essendon-bombers-to-move-ben-mckay-forward-amid-5m-contract-salary-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649041\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026, James Hird urges Essendon Bombers to move Ben McKay forward amid $5m contract, salary criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> legend James Hird<\/a> has floated a dramatic team change he thinks could bolster the confidence of out-of-form defender Ben McKay.<\/p>\n

McKay is barely midway through a monster contract with the Bombers which is said to be worth about $5 million over its entirety, and made him the AFL<\/a>‘s highest paid player in its first season in 2024.<\/p>\n

The deal was heavily front-ended and McKay is now thought to be earning around $1m or less up until it expires at the end of 2029, but the huge salary still comes with high expectations.<\/p>\n

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The key back has failed to meet those expectations as his on-field form flounders with that of his team, which is undoubtedly now the worst in the competition. McKay was booed by Bombers fans<\/a> during a heavy loss to Brisbane on Saturday.<\/p>\n

So far this season the Brad Scott-coached Bombers are worst in the AFL for points against (115.6), uncontested marks against, inside 50s against, and marks inside 50 against.<\/p>\n

They once again looked all at sea during a 64-point loss to Brisbane on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben McKay of the Bombers marks the ball.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“I just want them to pick a style defensively,” AFL great Jimmy Bartel said on Nine’s Footy Furnace.<\/p>\n

Prior to that game, intel from the Lions changerooms was leaked which listed strengths and weaknesses of all Essendon players<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next to McKay’s name was simply written “low confidence”, and the strengths column was left blank.<\/p>\n

Hird says the backman’s lack of confidence is evident, but believes a drastic positional switch could bring McKay back to life.<\/p>\n

“It’s unacceptable, really,” Hird said of Essendon’s defence on Footy Furnace.<\/p>\n

“Ben McKay has been harshly criticised, by his own (Essendon) fans and by everyone in the media.<\/p>\n

“Firstly, Ben McKay is not that bad a player. Ben has a lot of talent, he is a very good footballer lacking a lot of confidence, and he is lacking confidence in his decision making.<\/p>\n

\"Saad<\/p>\n

Saad El-Hawli and Ben McKay of the Bombers leave the field.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“He has become reactive, he’s not sure should he go there, there. I think underlines not just Ben McKay, but the system you’re talking about, and the system is actually allowing him to be exposed.<\/p>\n

“It’s really upsetting for him, it’s upsetting for his family.<\/p>\n

“Is he playing his best football? No, but I think it’s a result of the system he’s in not providing him the protection it needs to provide.<\/p>\n

“I would change the dynamic on Ben McKay, I’d actually put him up forward for a couple of weeks. Because the first thing you lose as a defender is your first instinct, to either punch or mark the ball.<\/p>\n

“Put him up forward, give him a chance to fly at the ball, get some confidence back, and then put him down back because at the moment I don’t see him getting his confidence back when the ball is coming in 60 times a game.<\/p>\n

“But more important for Essendon, set up a defensive structure that stops the uncontested mark and allows your defence to actually defend.”<\/p>\n

The one-win Bombers travel to Sydney to face the Giants in round nine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon legend James Hird has floated a dramatic team change he thinks could bolster the confidence of out-of-form…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-649041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}