all publicly expressing varying degrees of scepticism about entering a Bombers process with Hird in the picture<\/a>. That\u2019s despite Essendon president Andrew Welsh insisting last week the Bombers would take time to assess what they need in their next senior coach and plan how they would find their new leader.<\/p>\nSpeaking on Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack on Sunday night, King cheekily suggested the Bombers should do \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d to get Hird back in the role \u2013 a reference to the Bombers\u2019 2013 membership slogan that became heavily associated with the infamous supplements saga that unfolded during the same year.<\/p>\n
But King said Hird loomed as the figure to take Essendon forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s the most Essendon thing I\u2019ve ever heard of. The Essendon Football Club is a different place, it has always been this way and if you\u2019re an outsider trying to step in in recent years, it\u2019s difficult. There are challenges that the home town crew don\u2019t really have,\u201d King told First Crack.<\/p>\n
James Hird, Director of Coaching at Port Melbourne. Picture: Morgan Hancock\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old Winston Churchill: \u2018A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there\u2019s a key.\u2019 The key, for me, is James Hird. I think he\u2019s perfect for this footy club.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no other Essendon figure like James Hird.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said he \u201cunderstood the negativity\u201d around a possible Hird return, especially due to his lack of recent AFL coaching exposure. But the Fox Footy commentator suggested he knew \u201cpeople that have been in the system for 10 years that don\u2019t have half the charisma, half the football IQ\u201d that Hird has.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been evident at AFL level, but it\u2019s there. It\u2019s just a matter of getting those juices flowing again,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he a perfect fit? Well I don\u2019t know if there is a perfect fit for any club out there when you\u2019re going through a process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he walks into a room, he has that presence, that feel, that aura about him. That\u2019s not everything \u2013 and winning and success builds that, no doubt \u2026 But this guy has already got that. He\u2019s a high achiever.<\/p>\n
Hird overshadowing Bombers coach hunt | 08:28<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people outside the football world talk about football clubs like they\u2019re a business inside the actual game centre \u2026 They talk about it like they actually understand it. But football is not a business. It\u2019s about gathering a group for a common cause, \u2018us against the world\u2019, charging them week-in and week-out, teaching them, educating them, having great rapport and relationships. This guy has that in him in spades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the naysayers, but there are flimsy discussions that are being had by this naysayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said it was \u201can itch that needs to be scratched\u201d at the Bombers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they have tried to go down the path of getting other coaches and it hasn\u2019t worked. The noise will continue to get louder about James Hird if they go with someone else because of him being so public that he wants the job,\u201d Montagna told First Crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as he hasn\u2019t been in the system for 10 years \u2013 and if they lined him up just from a pure coaching perspective against the best-credentialed assistant coaches, he might not have the highest credentials \u2013 but being a senior coach is now 90 per cent about selling the dream and bringing the players and the football club on the journey.<\/p>\n
James Hird at the GWS Giants in 2022. Picture: Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have the greatest tactical nous of football in the world, but if you can\u2019t get the group to be on your side to buy in on it, it\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herald Sun chief football writer Jay Clark reported some at the Bombers were hesitant about bringing Hird back considering he\u2019s now 11 years removed from his Essendon resignation, having since briefly served at the Giants in 2022, and taken up a director of coaching role at Port Melbourne.<\/p>\n
But Montagna said the club could put some of the game\u2019s sharpest minds around Hird<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go and get the best IP with your assistant coach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery AFL coach talks about it is now a \u2018coaching group\u2019. It is not just the senior coach deciding on the game plan and how it\u2019s all going to work and everyone else just sits there and nods. You can go and get IP from someone at Geelong or Hawthorn or the Brisbane Lions and bring them into the coaching department \u2013 and you can easily have enough IP to be able to keep up with the modern game.\u201d<\/p>\n
King added: \u201cThere would be no sharper and smarter mind who loves footy than James. I think it\u2019s a little bit lost on what this guy brings in terms of footy nous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dual premiership Kangaroo David King has urged Essendon to take a chance on James Hird and appoint him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[343965,1146,638,107267,64,2347,63,689,55,639,3423,343962,696,3237,40739,81202,343963,343964,52615,25297,11231,1119,343959,667,18664,2105,5126,343966,343960,48340,19125,285052,7484,647,343967,126754,677,29987,22401,343961,85,12931,40098,660,66045],"class_list":["post-707101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-actual-game-centre","tag-adam-simpson","tag-afl","tag-andrew-welsh","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-best-credentialed-assistant-coaches","tag-brad-scott","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-chief-football-writer","tag-coaching-candidates","tag-coaching-department","tag-coaching-exposure","tag-coaching-group","tag-coaching-role","tag-essendon-bombers","tag-football-club","tag-football-world-talk","tag-footy-club","tag-game-plan","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-giants","tag-home-town-crew","tag-infamous-supplements-saga","tag-james-hird","tag-jay-clark","tag-kangaroo-david-king","tag-ken-hinkley","tag-melbourne","tag-membership-slogan","tag-montagna","tag-oceania","tag-phil-hillyard","tag-senior-coach","tag-senior-coach-deciding","tag-sports","tag-struggling-club","tag-troy-chaplin","tag-victoria","tag-winston-churchill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707101","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=707101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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