{"id":866926,"date":"2026-08-24T17:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866926\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T17:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:42:16","slug":"mark-mcveigh-named-essendon-coach-effective-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866926\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark McVeigh named Essendon coach effective immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark McVeigh, a former Essendon player and Sydney assistant coach, will take over as Essendon’s senior coach after what the club said was an “extensive” and “deliberate” selection process.<\/p>\n

McVeigh, 45, won the role ahead of Bombers great and ex-coach James Hird, as well as Jaymie Graham and Murray Davis.<\/p>\n

Essendon confirmed the announcement on Monday afternoon, a day after the stricken club’s narrow loss to Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n

McVeigh would take over “effective immediately”, the club said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The official announcement came following a day of speculation and a message of congratulations from former teammate and Bomber’s legend, <\/a>James Hird.<\/p>\n

“I put my heart and soul into the effort, but obviously fell short and that’s the way it goes,” Hird said on Nine yesterday night.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Hird (L) and Dean Solomon (C) speak with Mark McVeigh (R). (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)<\/p>\n

Brad Scott was sacked on May 25, with Dean Solomon taking over as interim coach for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Solomon rounded out the Bomber’s worst season in club history with a 10-point defeat to Port Adelaide on Sunday.<\/p>\n

McVeigh commits to building Essendon’s ‘next great era’<\/p>\n

The search for a new coach has involved a tumultuous selection process, with opinion sharply divided on whether Hird should win another tenure in the role.<\/p>\n

Club president Andrew Welsh, who played at Essendon alongside McVeigh and Hird, said the appointment was a unanimous board decision.<\/p>\n

“Mark was clearly the best candidate for what this role demands,” Welsh said on the club website.<\/p>\n

“We are building the next successful era for Essendon, with a view to playing finals, winning finals and competing for premierships.<\/p>\n

“We weighed every candidate against what this role actually demands, and Mark was the clear stand-out.”<\/p>\n

Hird congratulates McVeigh<\/a><\/p>\n

A ‘very disappointed’ James Hird congratulates former teammate Mark McVeigh, as the Bombers prepare to unveil their new coach.<\/p>\n

McVeigh played 232 games for Essendon and returns to the club on a three-year contract after nearly 14 years away, which also included working as an assistant coach at the Greater Western Sydney Giants.<\/p>\n

He also acted as caretaker coach at the Giants in 2022.<\/p>\n

“We’re not looking backwards, we’re building the next great era of this football club,” McVeigh said.<\/p>\n

“That’s not built on promises. It’s built on our standards, our actions and the work we put in every single day.”<\/p>\n

AAP\/ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark McVeigh, a former Essendon player and Sydney assistant coach, will take over as Essendon’s senior coach after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[638,64,63,21452,3028,596,48340,338846,85,21453],"class_list":["post-866926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bombers","tag-essendon","tag-football","tag-james-hird","tag-mark-mcveigh","tag-sports","tag-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866926","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=866926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}