{"id":698478,"date":"2026-05-27T19:32:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698478\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:32:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:32:33","slug":"who-even-wants-the-job-hird-is-now-a-political-problem-for-essendon-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698478\/","title":{"rendered":"Who even wants the job? Hird is now a political problem for Essendon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Niall<\/a>Chief football writer, The Age<\/p>\n

May 27, 2026 \u2014 8:04pm<\/p>\n

May 27, 2026 \u2014 8:04pm<\/p>\n

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James Hird\u2019s now-declared candidacy for the Essendon coaching position has careened overnight into a tricky political problem for the Bombers and a major test of the strength and savvy of the club\u2019s new leadership.<\/p>\n

Hird\u2019s campaign for a redemptive return was launched on Nine\u2019s Footy Classified, where he has a useful platform to sell his wares, on the same night that the latest Essendon coaching casualty Brad Scott appeared on Seven\u2019s rival program, The Agenda Setters, to detail bits of what went wrong \u2013 to give us a glimpse of the black box\u2019s contents from the crash.<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere is a groundswell of support, inside and outside Essendon, for James Hird to return as senior coach.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

One was campaigning to Make Essendon Great Again, the other was providing a partial autopsy of his three and a half-year stint.<\/p>\n

The reaction from the coaching marketplace was immediate.<\/p>\n

Ken Hinkley made it clear the next morning<\/a> on SEN\u2019s Whateley that he would not consider pursuing the Essendon coaching position unless the Bombers settled the Hird question, ie the Bombers needed to clarify whether Hird would coach them, or he wouldn\u2019t put his name forward.<\/p>\n

\"KenKen Hinkley in his time as Port Adelaide coach.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hinkley pointedly said it was Essendon\u2019s right to do as they wished. If they wanted Hird, that was their prerogative. Rightly or not, Hinkley was raising the notion that a process with Hird would turn into a boat race.<\/p>\n

Adam Simpson followed Hinkley\u2019s lead<\/a>, whereas John Longmire (who appeared with Simpson on AFL 360 on Wednesday night) said there was still much to play out in the process.<\/p>\n

Would Nathan Buckley, retooling at Geelong alongside Chris Scott, consider entering the field? I\u2019d be betting against it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s conceivable that Essendon might be forced to offer one of these proven coaches, such as Longmire, the job outright \u2013 and a long deal with seven figures per annum as danger money \u2013 eschewing the full-bore process that Carlton is committed to running.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Adam<\/a><\/p>\n

Premiership coaches often avoid the open coaching searches anyway. But it seems improbable that they will be part of the circus.<\/p>\n

Corey Enright has some cachet at St Kilda, and has been discussed as a potential successor to Ross Lyon. If he doesn\u2019t enter the hypothetical field, it would tell us plenty about his confidence that he will get another senior gig, at St Kilda or elsewhere. Or it would be sheeted home to the Hird factor.<\/p>\n

Hird\u2019s campaign, thus, has the potential to narrow Essendon\u2019s options, unless Andrew Welsh and his board are prepared to rule out the prodigal son. His candidacy is supported by many fans who love the redemption arc \u2013 fallen club and angel ascending together \u2013 but also flat-out opposed by a group large enough to create divisions.<\/p>\n

SEN talkback, which leans male and hard-core footy, was decidedly in the \u201cyes\u201d camp for Hird. This masthead\u2019s non-scientific online poll – demographically more tertiary educated and less blokey – was 62 per cent against, 26 per cent for a Hird revival and 12 per cent unsure. It must be noted that respondents (about 20,270 at the time of writing) aren\u2019t necessarily all red and black.<\/p>\n

Essendon, thus, has been wedged into a no-win equation over Hird\u2019s candidacy, which is tantamount to a political campaign at a club where political considerations have frequently compromised decisions.<\/p>\n

If they allow Hird to enter the process \u2013 whatever that entails \u2013 many, if not most, highly credentialled candidates will run for the hills.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If they come out and say Hird won\u2019t coach them \u2013 the logical position, if you want a Cox Plate field to select from \u2013 then they risk thousands of fans revolting against the persecution of their saviour.<\/p>\n

Lately, the question has been posed in footy circles of whether this could happen at any other club, namely an ex-champion and former coach who presided (not alone, no) over an utter disaster (the drugs saga, in which 34 current and former Essendon players in 2016 were banned), and who had not coached again in the AFL system for 11 years (besides half a season part-time helping GWS), putting his hand up to return and a large section of the fan base erupting in joy at that prospect.<\/p>\n

Further, that former coach \u2013 whose appeal still rests on his amazing prowess as a player \u2013 was removed in 2015 by the same club because they couldn\u2019t win games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely it could happen anywhere but Essendon, even though Carlton have recent iterations of a Messiah complex. At Essendon, repeated failures under coaches of different guises meant the fever never broke.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a cultural explanation. The fans of Geelong, Hawthorn, Richmond and Collingwood have been re-conditioned to accept that you hire the best candidate possible as senior coach. That the coaching position isn\u2019t where \u201cpassion for the club\u201d and that tribal DNA must reside.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Another small complication is that another Essendon favourite son, Dean Solomon<\/a>, is now the caretaker coach.<\/p>\n

Collingwood and Hawthorn had favourite sons (Hawthorn has one now, but he took a sabbatical at West Coast) in the chair, but they have succeeded with industry-professional outsiders (Malthouse, McRae at the Pies, Clarkson at the Hawks).<\/p>\n

Essendon tried this approach, but they haven\u2019t had any success since 2004 (2001, really, if you make top four the measure). The only success the vast majority know was under Kevin Sheedy, when Hird was seated at the right hand of the father.<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Hird and Kevin Sheedy after their final game as Essendon player and coach in 2007.Sebastian Costanzo<\/p>\n

Matthew Knights was hired in a process and was flung quickly. Then Hird came in the ill-fated dream team with Mark Thompson, who filled in for a year when the champion was suspended for the saga. John Worsfold was head-hunted for crisis management of a traumatised playing group in 2016 \u2013 no real process. Ben Rutten was a handover \u2013 again, without an open-field of candidates.<\/p>\n

Hird was then a candidate when Scott was hired in 2022. Some within Essendon felt that Hird\u2019s presence, and the false view that he was anointed, frightened off a few good men.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hird has professed that he wants the best available candidate for Essendon, yet by his mere presence, that outcome is heavily compromised.<\/p>\n

At its core, Hird\u2019s pitch is tribal. The brilliance of the campaign, intended or not, is that it creates momentum for him, may dissuade other candidates, and is founded in Essendon patriotism.<\/p>\n

Whereas Scott was an \u201canywhere\u201d coach (he could have coached anywhere), Hird is a \u201csomewhere\u201d coach, and that place is Essendon only. It would be long odds, for instance, for him to be on Carlton\u2019s or anyone\u2019s list of candidates.<\/p>\n

The market for former coaches who have not plied their trade at an AFL club for more than a decade is limited to one.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JakeJake Niall<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Jake NiallChief football writer, The Age May 27, 2026 \u2014 8:04pm May 27, 2026 \u2014 8:04pm Save…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-698478","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\/698478","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=698478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}