Caroline Wilson reveals incorrect James Hird sacking story as biggest career regret
Veteran AFL columnist Caroline Wilson has admitted that writing a story that Essendon had sacked James Hird in 2014 that proved to be incorrect is her biggest career regret.
Wilson, who led the coverage into Essendon's supplements scandal under Hird's reign as Bombers coach, came under fire for her story after Hird survived the axe, only to be dismissed halfway through the 2015 season.
When questioned by Hird's former teammate Matthew Lloyd over the biggest regret over her illustrious career, Wilson said the choice was "easy".
"Saying that James Hird had been removed as the coach of the Essendon Football Club," she told Nine's Footy Classified.
Hird was eventually given his marching orders by the Bombers during a tumultuous 2015 season AAP
"It was disappointing because it was wrong. At the time I wrote it there were key people on the board who told me it had happened. I suspect that maybe it had happened and then they changed their mind, I don't know what happened.
"My bad, I got it wrong. It never appeared in the paper, it did appear online for an hour or two.
"I came on Footy Classified that night and Damian Barrett absolutely smashed me, like went ballistic at me. It was horrible and I felt bad.
"I felt I'd done such a good job on the Essendon drug scandal story with The Age and all the journos I worked with on it, so that was a big regret."
