{"id":866238,"date":"2026-08-24T03:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T03:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866238\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T03:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T03:32:15","slug":"disappointed-james-hird-congratulates-mark-mcveigh-as-essendon-to-announce-new-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866238\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Disappointed’ James Hird congratulates Mark McVeigh as Essendon to announce new coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark McVeigh appears set to be unveiled as Essendon’s next senior coach, with fellow applicant James Hird congratulating his former teammate on the impending appointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bombers legend Hird had been vocal in expressing his desire to return for another stint as coach, after Brad Scott was sacked in May.<\/p>\n

Fremantle assistant Jaymie Graham and Adelaide assistant Murray Davis were also in the mix.<\/p>\n

But McVeigh, an assistant to Dean Cox at Sydney, is reportedly on the verge of being appointed, with an announcement expected as soon as tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/p>\n

Mark McVeigh is in the box seat to be offered the Bombers job. (Getty Images: Jason McCawley)<\/p>\n

Interim coach Dean Solomon hands over the reins after the Bombers (2-21) completed the worst season in club history with a 10-point defeat to Port Adelaide on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“Firstly, congratulations to Mark. He’s a great friend of mine and I’m very proud of him that he’s going to be named the coach, so good on him,” Hird said on Nine yesterday night.<\/p>\n

“From a personal point of view, it’s very disappointing. I’m disappointed. I put my heart and soul into the effort, but obviously fell short and that’s the way it goes.”<\/p>\n

Hird indicated he was yet to hear an official decision from Essendon, but said “maybe that’s coming”.<\/p>\n

The 53-year-old ruled out returning to the Bombers in a different role, but said he still had the passion to coach.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Hird, Dean Solomon and Mark McVeigh together in 2022 when they were all at the Giants. (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)<\/p>\n

Hird is director of coaching with VFL club Port Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“We have a finals series to play,” Hird said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll see what plays out at the end of the year with some other clubs who have contacted me and we’ll see what happens.”<\/p>\n

McVeigh is reportedly set to present to the Essendon board again today, with an announcement imminent.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old played 232 games for Essendon and was one of the 34 players suspended over the club’s devastating drugs saga, when Hird was coach.<\/p>\n

McVeigh currently serves as Sydney’s defensive coach, but could leave the club immediately to play a role in the Bombers’ end-of-season exit meetings and list management decisions.<\/p>\n

The second-placed Swans are preparing for a finals campaign while bracing for more fallout from the scandal that has rocked the club.<\/p>\n

“That’s one thing this football club’s done well for a long period of time \u2026 be ready for the unexpected or if something does arise,” Sydney coach Cox said last week about the potential of losing McVeigh to the Bombers.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had those meetings [and] discussions. We’re really clear on what will happen if he was or wasn’t to get the [Essendon] position.”<\/p>\n

Two-time Essendon premiership champion and former captain Hird first took over as Bombers coach in 2010.<\/p>\n

He was suspended for the 2014 season amid the fallout from the drugs saga, returned as coach in 2015 and resigned in August that year.<\/p>\n

Hird had garnered plenty of support from Bombers fans in his latest bid to return as coach, after he narrowly missed out when Scott was appointed in 2022.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark McVeigh appears set to be unveiled as Essendon’s next senior coach, with fellow applicant James Hird congratulating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,21452,3181,143664,3028,48340,338846,85],"class_list":["post-866238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bombers","tag-coach","tag-dean-solomon","tag-essendon","tag-james-hird","tag-mark-mcveigh","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866238","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=866238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}