Essendon icon James Hird is returning to TV screens as part of Channel Nine’s football coverage following his failed efforts to break back into the AFL coaching ranks.
The reclusive star, whose illustrious career with the Essendon Bombers as both a player and coach was marred by controversy, will join the Sunday night TV show Footy Furnace alongside AFL reporter Tom Morris and Cats great Jimmy Bartel.
Hird is replacing another footy legend, Leigh Matthews, who has stepped away from the show.
‘I missed the game,’ Hird told Nine. ‘The game is a great game, but certainly I have not missed the publicity. The time feels right.
‘The scrutiny is on every player and every coach the whole time. It’s the biggest thing in town, and it is good to be back and part of it.’
The AFL media landscape has undergone a big shakeup in recent weeks and Hird’s signing is part of Nine’s move to revitalise its footy programming after some big-name departures.
The Bombers great left Windy Hill almost a decade ago under a dark cloud due to the infamous drug supplements saga.
With Hird at the helm, Essendon were at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in the history of Australian sport, with 34 players found guilty on appeal of taking performance-enhancing drugs across the 2012 AFL season.
Footy legend James Hird (pictured) joining Channel Nine’s football coverage
Hird worked as an assistant coach at Greater Western Sydney in 2022
The Bombers great left Windy Hill almost a decade ago under a dark cloud due to the infamous supplements saga
Four years later, the AFL suspended the players involved in the scandal for 12 months, while 2012 Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson had to return his coveted medal.
Hird later admitted to being ‘naïve’ as a head coach and trusting ‘bad’ people – and has been a recluse in recent years.
Stephen Dank and Dean Robinson served as Essendon’s sports scientist and high-performance coach respectively during the supplements saga.
‘I trusted the people I asked to do things and they weren’t. [I was] a bit naïve,’ Hird previously told the Howie Games podcast.
‘The thing that is the most upsetting is there’s 34 players who have done absolutely nothing wrong and their families and them have suffered hugely for it – and so have the Essendon supporters.’
Hird did apply for the head coaching role at the Bombers after Ben Rutten was moved on in 2022 – only to see chairman David Barham opt for Brad Scott.
He was also poised to take the coaching role at VFL club Port Melbourne, but decided to become the director of coaching due to business commitments.
It is not known whether he will continue in the role now that he has landed the job with Nine.
After retiring in 2007 as a one-club player, Hird coached the Bombers in 85 matches, leading them from 2011-2013 and then for 19 matches in 2015.
The former champion midfielder won the 1996 Brownlow Medal plus the 2000 Norm Smith Medal and played in two premiership teams.
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