James Hird to coach Essendon.

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That was before the game went professional, when the players worked other jobs 9-5 and wore lace up guernseys and had mullets!!!!

The caper is a million percent harder now for coaches and even good, smart people like Hird need a solid grounding as an assistant. This is a recipe for disaster.

Whats that got to do with it? They still played football. Hird is a product of the professional era, he knows exactly what is required. And he has a better football brain than most of the coaches out there now.
 

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What does everyone think a pass mark will be for Hirdy? I don't think we're expecting a premiership next year?

I'd settle for a change in game plan and some sign of a defensive mindset. Could take a couple of months for the team to respond to a drastically different game plan.

If the board has admitted that they overrated the list, then the ludicrous Top 4 expectations ventilated by Jackson and Evans might not be heard for a while.

He'll say finals, but stemming the bleeding will be job #1
 
I'm a big believer in a coach having some time as an assistant.

A great player doesn't always make a great coach.

So sick of this myth.
Leigh Matthews, Malcolm Blight and Ron Barassi coached all right.

Paul Roos didn't spend much time as an assistant and he went pretty good as a player I would have thought.

What about all those long serving assistants who have failed as coaches - Knights, Frawley, Schwab, Connolly - the list goes on and on.
 
Whats that got to do with it? They still played football. Hird is a product of the professional era, he knows exactly what is required. And he has a better football brain than most of the coaches out there now.

He was a player in the professional era.

JAMES HIRD HAS NO EXPERIENCE COACHING AT ANY LEVEL.

Good luck with Hirdy, you'll need it unless someone like Laidley is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Voss was a comparable case (no experience) and he has made an absolute meal of the Brisbane job and he is a tough, smart operator with a similar status in the game to Hird.
 
He was a player in the professional era.

JAMES HIRD HAS NO EXPERIENCE COACHING AT ANY LEVEL.

Good luck with Hirdy, you'll need it unless someone like Laidley is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Voss was a comparable case (no experience) and he has made an absolute meal of the Brisbane job and he is a tough, smart operator with a similar status in the game to Hird.

Well if you knew what you were talking about, you would know that is the plan. Laidley or Choco. Maybe Voss would not have made a meal of it (the salary cap is hardly his fault) if he had been given better support.

Oh, and yes, I know he has no experience. That is how this circular argument started to begin with.
 
Surely, the Board would not put a candidate with zero coaching experience into the top job.

I am not aware of any other $40,000,000 PA business that would pluck someone with no experience in any capacity in that role into the job. It could only happen in football where club boards (like Brisbane) seem to have read too many fairy tales.

This board could ruin Essesdon if they make this short sighted decision to try and appease an impatient supporter base.

In Clint Eastwood's words they should get themselves someone "who knows what the hell he is doing".

Going to refer to Pep Guardiola here the coach of Barcalona. Played basically his whole career at Barca. Straight into the top job. Did spend 1 season coaching the Barcelona youth team. Massive difference between looking after kids and the top job but its 'experience' i suppose. Barca also had a decent side where as Essendon is average. Did Hird do anything with the AIS team after finishing playing?
 
.......... seems the club is more interested in appeasing disgruntled members and getting some of that Obama-style "hope" around the club.
Finally a Bomber fan prepared to call it as it is.

BTW, just wondering for those Bomber fans who seem to be celebrating the return of the golden one, if the Bombers go 10-34 over the next 2 years will you guys still be applauding the appointment of Hird or will you be calling for his head. Cause reading the replies in here it seems like you guys half expect Hird to lead you guys back to the promise land almost immediately.
 
"Perform better". are we talking wins?

I know you are a Richmond supporter but if you step outside your little Richmond bubble for a second you will find that this is how teams and coaches are rated. Wins. Ladder position. Premierships.

You guys made finals last year, so surely you have a fraction of talent that needs to be awoken? How many wins in do I get?
Hang on a second! You are now saying that Essendon has a better list than Richmond? If so, why have you spent the last 3 months talking about how pathetic our list is and how we are destined for years of medicrity? What does this say about your club considsering you are now saying you rate our list higher?
 
What a crazy decision.

Honestly, other than the fact he is James Hird, what other reasons is he getting hired for?

If he was applying for senior coach, what would his coaching CV be?
This is a marketing decision as much as a footballing decision, based on Romance.
Hird back at the club will excite some of those who'd lost faith in Knights and the strange decision to to overlook Hardwick.
They will prop him up with Laidley or Choco to learn the ropes and hope he doesn't balls it up in the meantime.

Hird was approached before Knights was cut, such is the concern at Essendon of where the club was leading, and what needed to be done to turn it around.

Still, it all smells a bit desperate considering Hird has no coaching experience and at this point in time is just one of many ex-players who have a supposedly 'great football brain'.

Time will tell whether this is just another poor decision.
 
Finally a Bomber fan prepared to call it as it is.

BTW, just wondering for those Bomber fans who seem to be celebrating the return of the golden one, if the Bombers go 10-34 over the next 2 years will you guys still be applauding the appointment of Hird or will you be calling for his head.

You should be asking yourself this question considering your savior is currently on target for a 10-34 return.
 

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Finally a Bomber fan prepared to call it as it is.

BTW, just wondering for those Bomber fans who seem to be celebrating the return of the golden one, if the Bombers go 10-34 over the next 2 years will you guys still be applauding the appointment of Hird or will you be calling for his head. Cause reading the replies in here it seems like you guys half expect Hird to lead you guys back to the promise land almost immediately.

How the hell should we know. Ask us IF it happens. How will you feel next year when Hardwick has not improved your team much further beyond the 6 wins this year? This whole thread is basically hypothetical. How will you feel when James Hird has Essendon playing top 4 football in 2 years time?
 
This is a marketing decision as much as a footballing decision, based on Romance.
Hird back at the club will excite some of those who'd lost faith in Knights and the strange decision to to overlook Hardwick.
They will prop him up with Laidley or Choco to learn the ropes and hope he doesn't balls it up in the meantime.

Hird was approached before Knights was cut, such is the concern at Essendon of where the club was leading, and what needed to be done to turn it around.

Still, it all smells a bit desperate considering Hird has no coaching experience and at this point in time is just one of many ex-players who have a supposedly 'great football brain'.

Time will tell whether this is just another poor decision.

you signature is just so apt for the opinions of yourself and opposition supporters in this thread :D

Time will tell, indeed.
 
A comparison of Hird and Voss is about as logical as the Dalai Lama and Bob Katter.

Voss sounded stupid when he commentated, and when he got full control - he did nothing to say otherwise.

How does Hird even compare to Voss?

As for the Knights lovers - he shot himself in the foot by making statments he did not back up. After 3 years he could not work out our best team, player development had stalled, the skills were no better, defenisvely we were awful. He failed to deliver on his KPIs. Footy ain't for weak hearted.

The appointment is bloody ballsy - but if done right it should be ok.

All we have to do is play more defensively, have more structure at stoppages and we will already be a 5-goal better team.

Player development will be critical. We need the right people to amke this happen. He will have people guiding him, preparing him.

Who said romance in football is dead?
 
A team with backbone and a structure to build success around will be step one. Knights's sacking was as much about unsustainability and the method of losing as opposed to the win/loss column.

Hird won't come out sprouting "top 4" or "playing like men" that's for sure. He'll know how to sell it and we will hear a lot of "development" and "learning" over the next two years if he is to be appointed. If we happened to then be successful on the win/loss column, it will look like the cream on top. Knights almost sold his own demise
 
As for the Hardwick cull - Knights did that. Its just a pity most nimrods can't even see that Knights turned over around half the list like Hardwick supposedly said we needed to.

The list isn't that bad - has holes - some gaping ones in the middle - but can be fixed. Development and cohesion is needed - and a gameplan that doesn't involve haemorrhaging 20 goals a game.
 
Getting them out of the bottom four is a realistic goal for Hird next year. Finals is too much of an ask and anything lower than 13th or 14th is a disappointment.
 
Could say the same about your team a fe years ago, a decade ago.

How quickly things can change.

You're correct, but as it stands you're neither threatening or hated.

The Hird appointment is a ridiculous ploy by your board to get supporters onside after the Knights debacle.

Knights didn't have enough top line experience and Hird has even less. Just ludicrous.
 

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James Hird to coach Essendon.

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