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Essendon have been urged by a member of the panel that selected Chris Fagan for the Brisbane Lions not to fall into the trap of thinking James Hird will be the messiah for the stricken club.
Former Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab was on the five-person panel which chose Fagan for the Lions position in 2016, replacing the sacked favourite son Justin Leppitsch. There has been a wave of popular support for Hird, who declared his desire to coach the club again the day that the removal of Brad Scott from the position became public.
Bombers legend Simon Madden has also urged the club to treat Hird – the former captain, two-time premiership player, five-time best-and-fairest winner, Brownlow medallist, Norm Smith medallist, five-time All-Australian and part of the Essendon’s team of the century – as an equal and take an unemotional approach in considering his application for the coaching job.
“What’s your criteria?” said Schwab, who was also a list manager with the Lions and a former head of the AFL’s umpiring department. “What sort of coach do they need or want? Not the personality but the qualities and strengths of what they believe to be a successful coach and measure it against that.
“If James ticks all that criteria and is the best person they interview and is available then they can rightfully say he’s the best candidate.
“What boxes will James tick? He’s not a successful coach, he’s not really been involved in coaching at the highest level for a long period of time.
“This is not saying he’s not highly capable or intelligent. I’m going, ‘He hasn’t been successful when he’s done it before, he hasn’t been in the system for a while’. To me, they’d be things I’d be thinking about if I was on the panel.”
Hird coached the Bombers for 84 games between 2011 and 2015 (missing the 2014 season due to suspension for the drugs scandal) for 41 wins, a draw, and 42 losses, making an elimination final in 2011.
Madden said the Bombers’ selection committee needed to address this issue when assessing Hird.
“I know he knows his footy,” Madden said. “A question the group of people interviewing have to say is, ‘Has he been involved in enough modern footy?’ That’s a question that has to be asked.
“Take emotion out of it and let’s actually do the proper process and ask all the right questions.”
The Bombers’ five-person selection panel of Welsh, Roberts, former Sydney premiership defender and Dons director Ted Richards, vice president Anthony Di Pietro and people and culture boss Caroline Monzon is entirely different from the subcommittee that chose Scott.
A director as recently as four years ago, before leaving in solidarity with ousted coach Ben Rutten, Madden said he is neither pro nor anti-Hird, unlike his former coach Sheedy, who has strongly backed Hird to return to the helm.
“Don’t say, ‘We have to give James the job’ or ‘We can’t give James the job’,” Madden said. “A whole lot of people have jumped up and down and gone you’ve got to give him the job.
“What I want is a proper process that he is compared to all the other people who are going for the job. There’s not more or less emotion involved with him. He puts forward what he wants to do, and it’s treated the same as everybody else.”
Hird’s participation has cast doubt among potential candidates, including former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, over the integrity of the Bombers’ search. Hinkley and experienced Hawthorn development coach Daniel Giansiracusa are not in the race to coach the Dons, while Geelong assistant James Kelly is prioritising Carlton’s vacant position.
Madden said Roberts had reassured him the Dons were running a proper process.
“I’ve spoken to Tim Roberts, and he’s said that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Madden said.
“Whether people believe it or not, that’s actually what they’re doing. I saw him face to face when he said that, and I actually believe it to be true.”
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