Hird ‘upset’ at leak over Dons meeting as setup theory floated
James Hird has explained the circumstances around a potential meeting with Essendon, revealing his disappointment that it took only an hour for the news to leak.
On Seven’s Agenda Setters, Caroline Wilson said there was a plan for Essendon to meet with Hird over a role at the club after he missed out on the head coaching job.
James Hird on Footy Classified. Nine
Hird, with a smirk, confessed that he received a text at 6.35pm from an Essendon figure about a meeting and then heard it mentioned on television an hour later.
“It’s a little disappointing that gets leaked out before I’ve had a chance to think about it, but that’s the industry we’re in,” he said on Nine’s Footy Classified.
“I’m disappointed a private, potential meeting gets out in the public place before I have the chance to think about what I want to do and whether it’s something I’m interested in.
“That’s disappointing because when you are thinking about your future and your career, you’d like to be able to do that behind closed doors to an extent, and you should be entitled to do that.”
Host Eddie McGuire then directly asked if Hird’s heart sank when he heard the report.
“I was upset the club had leaked that out, yes,” he said.
Hird would not confirm who sent the text message. He did, however, state he’d been in contact with new coach and friend Mark McVeigh since he’d been appointed.
McGuire put it to Hird that the text and subsequent leak was deliberately orchestrated and a “setup” for the club legend to say no to a meeting to suggest he was only interested in the head coaching role for himself, not the club.
Hird wasn’t willing to confirm his thoughts but said, “there is the potential that’s the reason it was done”.
He said, “we’ll see” when asked if he would take part in the meeting but did admit he’ll have a conversation with the person who sent the text to address how it was leaked.
Hird was in the running for the head coaching job after Brad Scott was sacked in May.
He missed out on the role to his friend McVeigh who said it was “difficult” to go through the process against one of his best mates.
