top-level coaching candidates available at the moment<\/a>.<\/p>\nAmong them is former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley who said on Tuesday he would not put his hand up for the role while Hird was being strongly linked with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really clear, Essendon now have to decide before anything else, before they ask any other person, they have to decide whether James Hird is going to be their coach,\u201d Hinkley told SEN on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The sentiment was echoed by another available coach Simpson, who said on AFL 360 he felt the club so far had not been able to separate the public push for Hird and its own intentions.<\/p>\n
Simpson said he had encountered a similar situation when applying for the Brisbane Lions head coaching role in 2014 before the appointment of Justin Leppitsch, who was mentored by club legend Leigh Matthews.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this feels ten times that,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my point of view it\u2019s snowballed to the point where there needs to be a decision made. What are they doing? <\/p>\n
\u201c… (It feels like) it would be a one-man process… I can\u2019t see anyone going for this job until they get that sorted. I think Ken nailed that today.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Hird, who currently works with VFL side Port Melbourne.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Former Sydney Swans coach John Longmire did not believe the Bombers\u2019 hiring process was \u201ccompromised\u201d yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sitting here making judgement on it based on what Hird said last night so … rather than skip ahead of it we just need to see how it plays out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley emphatically agreed the club needed to make its position clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can say that with absolutle clarity \u2014 they will not be assemble the best possible contenders as matters stand because I think Ken is right … they\u2019re going to have to answer the James Hird question first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone of any reputation or standing in the game would put themselves blindly into a process that involves James Hird.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFL great Garry Lyon warned the hype around Hird\u2019s potential return was only set to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think the push for James Hird is overwhelming on the back of the last 24 hours, just stand by. It hasn\u2019t started yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are in a bit of an insidious situation here the Bombers, and they\u2019ve just got to back themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFL CEO responds to Hird-Dons link | 01:01<\/p>\n
Earlier on the show, meanwhile, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said the league would have no issues with Hird returning.<\/p>\n
After retiring as a player after the 2007 season, Hird took the job at the end of 2010, lasting until the end of 2013 when he was banned from coaching for his role in the supplements saga.<\/p>\n
Returning for the 2015 season, a poor 5-14 campaign saw Hird quit the job, and his lone role in the AFL coaching ranks since was a part-time assistant role at GWS under Mark McVeigh during the 2022 season.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Hird carried a \u201cblack mark\u201d for his invovement in the supplements saga, Dillon said the decision was solely on Essendon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people sometimes potentially overlook is that James had a year off and came back and coached the Bombers back in 2015,\u201d Dillon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been an assistant coach at the GWS Giants since that time and even now he\u2019s got an active role with Port Melbourne in the VFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he\u2019s part of football at the moment so ultimately it\u2019ll be a decision that the Essendon footy club will make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFL will not stand in the way of James Hird returning to Essendon but the club risks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[1146,638,12259,107267,340138,64,63,689,55,639,696,3237,340142,81202,30901,63402,667,10145,61,81408,60243,48340,30404,7484,86147,340141,39203,338846,677,340139,6082,340137,1124,85,327005,7200,340140,7067],"class_list":["post-697834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adam-simpson","tag-afl","tag-andrew-dillon","tag-andrew-welsh","tag-assistant-role","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brad-scott","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-club-risks","tag-coaching-candidates","tag-coaching-ranks","tag-coaching-search","tag-footy-club","tag-garry-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-head-coaching-role","tag-hiring-process","tag-james-hird","tag-john-longmire","tag-ken-hinkley","tag-kevin-sheedy","tag-legitimate-coaching-candidates","tag-leigh-matthews","tag-mark-mcveigh","tag-oceania","tag-one-man-process","tag-port-adelaide","tag-reports-legend","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-supplements-saga","tag-sydney-swans","tag-top-level-coaching-candidates","tag-west-coast-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697834","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=697834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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