Have James Hird and Gill McLachlan buried the hatchet?
THE children of AFL honcho Gill McLachlan and former Essendon coach James Hird have brought their fathers together after one of the ugliest fallouts in the history of the game. Here’s how they did it.
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THE children of AFL head honcho Gill McLachlan and former Essendon coach James Hird have brought the feuding pair together after one of the ugliest fallouts in footy history.
The famous foes and their formidable wives, Laura and Tania, joined in celebrating the 50th birthday of Kythe McLean, wife of ex-AFL umpire turned lawyer Derek Humphrey-Smith.
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The children of the three families attend the same exclusive private primary school.
And the longstanding cold war between the two fathers is slightly more amicable in the schoolyard.
Umpires don’t pick sides and Humphrey-Smith (inset) and his wife invited both clans to the birthday bash.
“Things have softened … a bit,” said one partygoer. The awkward coming together went down at the Merricks General Wine Store on the Mornington Peninsula, with party guests schmoozing well into the night.
But it wasn’t just the winter chill in the air as McLachlan and Hird occupied territory on either side of the function room. The spectacular fallout between the two was triggered by the infamous Essendon supplements scandal.
McLachlan, as Andrew Demetriou’s then deal-making deputy, was a key player in the investigation that led to the contentious suspension of Bombers legend Hird in 2013.
McLachlan admits he was stripped of some skin, but the crisis almost broke Hird, the Essendon golden boy and one of the game’s greats.
McLachlan and Hird did sip a coffee together at a South Yarra cafe earlier this year, and while the kids might have helped to take some of the heat out of the kitchen, insiders say they will never break bread.
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