‘It’s complicated’: Hird grilled on awkward juggling act
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James Hird batted away questions on Tuesday night about his push to return as coach of Essendon, but admitted juggling media commitments with his Bombers bid was proving “complicated”.
Hird also confirmed on Nine’s Footy Classified that he met with Essendon bosses on Tuesday, in his heavily publicised pursuit to return to the coaching hot seat after Brad Scott’s sacking opened the door.
Former Essendon coach James Hird and ex-Bombers president Paul Little at Neale Daniher’s funeral in June. Getty
Richmond and Western Bulldogs great Nathan Brown put to Hird that navigating his job in the media while gunning for the Bombers gig must be proving hard.
“It’s complicated; I wouldn’t say it’s hard. We’re talking about footy, and it’s a great job to be on air and talk with you guys about a sport that I love. But it’s complicated trying to balance both,” Hird replied.
“As a paid employee of Channel Nine, you owe a service to them to give the best of your ability.
“But also, when you enter into confidential conversations, you need to keep them confidential.
“So, it’s complicated rather than hard.”
According to reports, Corey Enright, Jaymie Graham, Hayden Skipworth, James Kelly and Mark McVeigh are among those in the mix for the Essendon job.
Dean Solomon, who’s serving as interim after Scott was punted, has said he has not yet decided if he will push for the permanent gig.
Hird was guarded when prodded about the process on Footy Classified.
“As I said on Sunday, I’m not going to comment on the process,” he said with a grin.
“Now that I’m in it, I won’t respond to comments, so I’d prefer just to leave it.
St Kilda assistant coach Corey Enright having a laugh with Saints star Liam Ryan. Getty
“I think it’s unfair to Essendon and to myself to keep talking about it. While the process is going on, I’m not going to comment any further.
“If I get the job, I’ll comment, and if I get kicked out of the process, then I’ll comment then.”
Asked if he would enjoy being part of the process, Hird said: “Absolutely. As I said, the process has started, and we’ll see what happens.”
He was asked what he’d do if another club came knocking.
“I just don’t think it’s going to happen, so I don’t have that dilemma,” he grinned.
“I’m all in on Essendon.”
As for a timeframe on when he may hear back from the Bombers?
“Respectfully, I just don’t want to respond,” he said in reply to that question.
“I don’t want to put any fuel on the fire, and with this Essendon process, I really have no comment.”
