AFL 2022: Essendon legend Tim Watson doesn’t want James Hird to return as coach

Essendon great James Hird has been interviewed to coach the club again, but a Bombers legend doesn’t like the idea.

James Hird wants to coach Essendon again. Picture: Jason McCawley/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Essendon legend Tim Watson says the battling Bombers “don’t need a saviour” and isn’t in favour of former coach James Hird getting the job again.

Hird, who stepped down as Bombers coach in 2015 after a turbulent time in charge, which included the supplements scandal, was reportedly put through a long interview on Wednesday to replace Ben Rutten, who was sacked at the end of the season.

But Watson, a former club captain and father of Jobe, who was Essendon skipper under Hird as coach, doesn’t think a return would be good for the club.

“I think for a lot of people it would drag back all those things that happened and occurred during that period of time that he was there as coach,” Watson said.

“I have to say that I’d be more than surprised if he ended up being the coach of the Essendon Football Club.

“Let’s say Essendon is broken, I think what would unite a club will be success. It doesn’t have to come from James Hird being the coach to unite Essendon.

“The club would have been united under Ben Rutten or John Worsfold had they been more successful.

“We don’t need a saviour to come back and unite the Essendon Football Club. We need somebody who is able to put a plan of action in place that is able to deliver success and to start to build a successful team again, that’s what we need.”

James Hird talks with Jobe Watson during his time as Essendon coach.

Essendon’s coaching subcommittee – football boss Josh Mahoney, ex-Carlton coach Robert Walls, four-time premiership star Jordan Lewis, Melbourne Vixens netball coach Simone McKinnis, board member Dorothy Hisgrove, a people and culture expert, and former NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn – began interviewing candidates this week.

Watson was happy for Hird to enter the process, and while he didn’t think the club great would get the job, he said the club had to land on the best candidate.

“I’m happy for him to be part of the process and for him to have the courage to put his hand up and even go through because he would have known what this would attract once it became public knowledge,” Watson told SEN.

“He would have known that it puts him right out there in the middle of the conversation again which he has wanted to shy away from and avoid for a long time.”

“My thought on all this is you go through a process and if it’s set up correctly and ask the right questions, then you end up with the best candidate,

“Out of all this, it may end up being James Hird, who knows?”

Adem Yze, Brendon Lade and AFL head of football operations Brad Scott have all been linked to the role.