Kevin Sheedy says it’s time to give James Hird a second chance as an AFL coach

Bombers greats Kevin Sheedy and Tim Watson and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire believe James Hird should be welcomed back into the AFL’s coaching ranks, believing he’s been punished enough for his role in the supplements saga.

James Hird and Kevin Sheedy will forever be intertwined. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Essendon great Tim Watson has joined Kevin Sheedy in backing a potential move back into the AFL coaching ranks for James Hird.

Sheedy said Hird deserved a chance to reignite his coaching career almost four years after he resigned from Essendon over the club’s crippling supplements saga.

Hird has recently told friends he would consider returning to the game if the right opportunity surfaced, despite knocking back a position at Fremantle last year.

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Sheedy said the champion midfielder should not be punished for the drugs crisis any longer.

“I would stake everything I had that James Hird will be a great coach, if he is ever given the chance,” Sheedy told the Herald Sun.

“Please don’t underestimate the young man who has a fierce amount of pride and would have been hurt (by the scandal) like anyone else would have been hurt.

“And I hate to say it again, but there has never been a positive drugs test.

James Hird and Kevin Sheedy will forever be intertwined. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“I’m not blaming anyone, but there is no way known he would have wished for what happened.

“And he has said sorry. How many times do you have to say sorry?

“I know people will jump at shadows because of what happened and that’s unfortunate.

“But he is one of the most intelligent football thinkers I’ve met. I think he is prime, ready to coach at an AFL club (again).”

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Watson, whose son and former Essendon captain Jobe Watson was banned for 12 months for his part in the supplements saga that engulfed the Bombers under Hird, said he’d have no issue with an AFL club appointing Hird.

“If a club was out there looking to appoint assistant coaches for next season and he (Hird) was aware of that and he put his hand up, you wouldn’t dismiss him as a candidate would you?” he said.

“I wouldn’t.

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“We all know what he was associated with, that’s been well-documented and played out over a long, long period of time and it dragged the game into a state of disrepute and mess. We all understand that.

“But the fact is that he’s been out of the game, he’s said his apologies, he didn’t get penalised really in any way but he was out of the game for a period of time, so if he wants to come back, I don’t see why he shouldn’t come back.

“He’s had that time as a senior coach, so he’s had that experience. He’s had the other experiences that he got dragged into and then he’s had to work his way through that and he’s been to ground zero as a human being.”

Hird during his time as Essendon coach. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Watson believes if Hird chooses to return to the AFL coaching landscape, he’d be best served at a rival club rather than at Essendon, where he has spent his entire AFL journey as a player and coach.

“If that’s (return to coaching) is what he wants to do, going to another club would be great for him,” Watson said on SEN.

“If you really wanted to go back and coach and you were James Hird, I’d be ringing Al Clarkson first and saying ‘I think you’re the leader in the AFL coaching business and your program is at the cutting edge of all AFL programs, have you got a spot for me? Would you consider hiring me as an assistant coach? I want to get back in. I want to get my hands dirty and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to coach at AFL level again, even if it means starting at the bottom rung and being the most junior person on this coaching staff, I’m prepared to do it.’”

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said it’s time to move on from Hird’s role in the supplements saga and give him a second chance.

“Enough. If he had penalties to face, then he has faced them more than enough,” he said on Triple M. “Let’s get on with it. He’s one of our blokes, James Hird.

“So if the rehabilitation is there to be had, and if he’s interested in doing it, then I think the door should be open.

“I don’t think there’d be any issue whatsoever.”

Hird speaks to his players back in 2015. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Geelong premiership player Jimmy Bartel said Sheedy’s call was “spot on”.

“Every sport out there has a way to forgive and give others a second chance,” Bartel said.

“If he wants to come back, I have no doubt he’d make a good assistant coach to start with.

“Sheeds is spot on, he’s one of the smartest mind in football. Hird last coached four years ago, he’s served his penalty and he’s going through the ringer with his family.

“I’m all for it – we crossed that bridge when he presented the Norm Smith Medal (in 2017).

“I think everyone in the football community will be fine with it.”

Sheedy met with Hird for lunch last week and said the 46-year-old was in “a great place” after overcoming a mental health issue, stemming from the supplements scandal fallout.

Hird spent five weeks in a mental health facility in 2017 after reaching “breaking point” and said it was “life-changing”.

“We discuss football,” Sheedy said.

“I’ve got no doubt if he had his head wrapped around a good club, and a good club which needed help, I would back him in.

“He is not a person who will lose twice.

“Yes he got his fingers burnt by not doing an (assistant coaching) apprenticeship, but he has ended up doing the toughest apprenticeship I’ve ever known of any former champion.

“Now, I think if a (Stephen) Dank walked into the club now, he would know what to do.”

Former Western Bulldogs ruckman Luke Darcy said getting Hird back into the fold, even at first as an assistant coach, would be a “no-brainer”.

“I don’t think that would be an issue for mine at all,” Darcy said of whether it would be a distraction for a senior coach to have Hird as an assistant.

“I think you’d look back at one of the greatest players to ever play the game and for all intents and purposes was starting to carve out an outstanding career as a coach. I think everyone that I’ve heard play under Hirdy has got nothing but full praise for him.

“Everyone has a mistake, everyone has things that don’t work out for them but to welcome James Hird back, to me, is a no-brainer if he wants to.”

Essendon was booted out of the 2013 finals and 34 players were banned for one year for breaching the anti-doping code, relating to the 2012 supplements program.

Hird has pursued business interests in recent years and presented the 2017 Norm Smith Medal. His three sons are involved in Essendon’s James Hird father-son academy.

Kevin Sheedy is backing James Hird to return to football.

Sheedy, a four-time premiership coaching icon, said football should embrace Hird like the cricket world was preparing to welcome back former captain Steve Smith and David Warner who were banned for their role in the ball tampering saga in South Africa last year.

“I actually think they (cricketers) were worse than Hird,” Sheedy said.

“Every player in the AFL has supplements, it is yet to be proven ever that they were the wrong supplements because no one knows.

“We know there was actual sandpaper in their hand, don’t we? That’s correct isn’t it?

“I don’t want to be judge on those boys, because they’ve moved on, but it’s like me — I hit people (on the field) when I played, and I shouldn’t have done it, but I did, and coaching made me a better person for it.”

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