{"id":708396,"date":"2026-06-01T14:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708396\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T14:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:14:15","slug":"afl-news-2026-james-hird-coaching-push-at-essendon-matthew-lloyd-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708396\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026 | James Hird coaching push at Essendon, Matthew Lloyd comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> great Matthew Lloyd<\/a> has hit back at claims he\u2019s part of a push for James Hird to return as coach of the club<\/a>, labelling them \u201cfactually incorrect\u201d. <\/p>\n

On SEN, journalist Tom Morris said former Bombers chairman Paul Little is part of team Hird<\/a> while Lloyd is on his side too. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Matthew Lloyd on Footy Classified.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Kane Cornes also said on SEN that Little, Lloyd and former list boss Adrian Dodoro were part of a group pushing for Hird, with \u201csecret coffees\u201d taking place to undermine former coach Brad Scott. <\/p>\n

On Nine\u2019s Footy Classified, Lloyd was played the audio and said \u201cI don\u2019t know how I got dragged into that at all\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did text Kane today and let him know that I wasn\u2019t happy with that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said James should be part of the process and I\u2019m not pro James or against James … if they decide he\u2019s not part of the process, so be it. At the end of the day I want Essendon to pick the best coach, if it\u2019s the next Adam Kingsley or Craig McRae, whoever it is that\u2019s what I want for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most tiring thing I\u2019ve done in my media is talk about Essendon\u2019s failings year after year, time after time. I want the best coach and I don\u2019t care who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

James Hird in the Essendon sheds while Brad Scott was coach. \u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Host Sam McClure put to Lloyd that the accusation was he was part of a \u201cclandestine cabal\u201d to oust Scott and replace him with Hird. <\/p>\n

Lloyd responded that he\u2019s never met Little and does not drink coffee. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the least political person because I\u2019m not interested in politics or getting involved in trying to get someone a job. It\u2019s categorically wrong,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only just heard those clips but to Tom Morris and Kane Cornes who put that out there, that\u2019s factually incorrect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t be any stronger than that … because I\u2019ve never delved into meeting anyone from the Essendon Football Club to pitch for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The search for Brad Scott\u2019s replacement has become a hot topic in the AFL with various figures giving their opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former AFL coaches Adam Simpson<\/a> and Ken Hinkley<\/a> have both suggested the job would be difficult to apply for if Hird is such a strong contender. <\/p>\n

Club legend Kevin Sheedy<\/a>, who is no longer on the board, said \u201cto coach Essendon, you have to love Essendon\u201d, in his support for Hird. <\/p>\n

Lloyd didn\u2019t agree with that take. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not on that side, Damien Hardwick wasn\u2019t a Richmond person and you know what they did? They started winning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes back to the best person, the moment Essendon starts winning games … the passion comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has hit back at claims he\u2019s part of a push for James Hird to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-708396","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\/708396","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=708396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}