{"id":783651,"date":"2026-07-06T23:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783651\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T23:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:48:13","slug":"afl-news-2026-matthew-lloyd-coming-around-to-james-hird-as-essendon-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783651\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Matthew Lloyd \u2018coming around\u2019 to James Hird as Essendon coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> great Matthew Lloyd<\/a> admits he is \u201ccoming around\u201d to the idea of former teammate James Hird<\/a> taking the reins as head coach next year.<\/p>\n

Hird is perhaps the most synonymous figure in Bombers history, winning two flags – one as captain – in a stellar career that included the 1996 Brownlow Medal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

James Hird and Matthew Lloyd in 2004.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

He then coached the side for 85 matches, but his first tenure ended in misery after a well-documented drugs scandal<\/a> that saw him banned from the AFL.<\/p>\n

But with the club in turmoil and Dean Solomon doing little as interim coach<\/a> since Brad Scott<\/a>\u2019s mid-season departure, the calls are growing louder for Hird to return.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine\u2019s Footy Classified on Monday night, Lloyd was asked where he stood on Hird\u2019s potential appointment as the coaching saga continues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be really strong in that they go through the right process and get the best candidates – but what a big job it is for whoever gets it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who comes up to me says \u2018we need James Hird back\u2019 but they are Essendon people who are passionate about the red and black. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be really difficult for whoever gets the job. They\u2019re not as bad as they are playing right now, but whoever takes on the job, it\u2019s gonna be a really rough couple of years and that\u2019s where James Hird coming in could buffer that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe supporters are at breaking point. I call it sad, I call it hopeless – they\u2019re some of the terms I use for where the powerful club I walked into has now become. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re at that point of, where do you turn to next? That\u2019s why it\u2019s got to the point where people are saying it is James Hird. Where is it next? What gives us hope? He is the only hope and that\u2019s why I\u2019m coming around to James Hird.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be some Essendon fans who are against the idea, given the fact Hird was the coach when the supplements saga derailed the club.<\/p>\n

But according to Lloyd, the time has passed to use that as a reason for the Bombers\u2019 failures, with the team at rock bottom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club is at the lowest ebb in history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe supplements [saga] was massive and people will say that\u2019s because of James Hird and that\u2019s why I\u2019m really conscious of it. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople said it would take 10 years to get over, but now it\u2019s an excuse because they shouldn\u2019t still be in this position. It\u2019s because of more than just that, it\u2019s because every area is nowhere near where an AFL-run club should be. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the hope, he certainly presents the most of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon great Matthew Lloyd admits he is \u201ccoming around\u201d to the idea of former teammate James Hird taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-783651","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\/783651","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=783651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}