Hird’s latest reveal on meeting set to end Essendon coaching saga

Essendon great James Hird has revealed the latest on the situation with his beloved club, stating there’s been no meeting over a role at the Bombers.

Ever since Brad Scott was sacked as Bombers coach, Hird had been linked with a return to the club and was part of the head coach shortlist.

James Hird on Footy Classified. Nine

Hird was set to have a meeting at the end of the week with Essendon powerbrokers, Seven reported last week.

On Tuesday’s Footy Classified, Hird said he was “upset” details of a private meeting had been leaked an hour after he was sent a text.

The club great confirmed on the Nine show that the meeting had not gone ahead in the end.

“No meeting and no formal offer from the Essendon Football Club,” he said.

Host Eddie McGuire then pressed Hird for further details and was asked if he thought that brings an end to the saga.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know,” he said before conceding “that probably is it, yes”.

Hird shares a close friendship with Mark McVeigh, who landed the head coach role over him, and said he’s still in contact with him.

“I’ve spoken to Mark a few times, yes,” he said.

“He’s a mate, and we speak about footy and opinions on different players.”

The 53-year-old added he wasn’t sure what the process is around how it will move forward and was clearly not willing to divulge further details.

Since 2025, Hird has held a director of coaching role at Port Melbourne in the VFL with the club’s season ending last week when they were beaten by Geelong in finals. The final score was 14.12 (96) - 6.13 (49).

Hird’s last season of coaching in the AFL was his assistant role at GWS which ended in early 2023.

His last season of head coaching was in 2015 at Essendon, a tenure that was marred by the supplements saga.