{"id":712455,"date":"2026-06-03T11:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712455\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:23:14","slug":"afl-news-2026-jimmy-bartel-denies-essendon-reports-james-hird-coaching-saga-footy-furnace-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712455\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Jimmy Bartel denies Essendon reports, James Hird coaching saga, Footy Furnace comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jimmy Bartel<\/a> may have an \u201citch to scratch\u201d to get back into AFL club land, but has denied being contacted by Essendon at this stage.<\/p>\n

Reports this week emerged linking the Geelong legend to the Bombers on a possible list of candidates James Hird<\/a> would like to have on his team if he were to pitch his case to step into the vacant coaching role at the club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Hird and Jimmy Bartel pictured on Nine’s Footy Furnace.\u00a0Footy Furnace<\/p>\n

Hird made clear on Nine\u2019s Footy Classified on Tuesday that he had not yet reached that stage in his pitch to the Bombers<\/a> and hadn\u2019t spoken to the club at all. <\/p>\n

However, he did clarify that no person putting their name in the ring to accept that job at Essendon would enter the interview process without considering who they would bring onboard in their coaching team. <\/p>\n

And while Bartel is open to getting back involved with a club he is the right fit, he revealed he has not been contacted by Hird or Essendon about any opportunities. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly flattered,\u201d he said, sitting next to Hird on Nine\u2019s Footy Furnace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to anyone from Essendon, but I am very flattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people know that I have always had an interest or an itch to get back into club land and do something … if the role was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartel was quizzed on whether he would open the door if Hird did come knocking with an opportunity. Hird was not overly joyed to hear that question asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we stop with the Team Hird,\u201d Hird said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

As for Bartel\u2019s response, he swiftly moved on to the next topic on the panel\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

\"Jimmy<\/p>\n

Jimmy Bartel is on the board of GWS Giants\u00a0nna\\mdinjaski<\/p>\n

Bartel has experience working behind the scenes at club level, having joined the GWS Giants as their football director in 2018. He departed the role in 2024. <\/p>\n

While with the Giants, he oversaw the club\u2019s list management and coaching decisions, most notably working to bring on Adam Kingsley as head coach. <\/p>\n

If he were to join Hird\u2019s team, it has been reported that he made be called into an assistant coach or football director role. <\/p>\n

As for now, aside from his media duties, he works as the head of football at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Bartel may have an \u201citch to scratch\u201d to get back into AFL club land, but has denied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-712455","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\/712455","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=712455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}