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Origin I LIVE from 9pm tonightSheedy on Hird: “To coach Essendon, you’ve got to love Essendon”
Andrew Slevison • May 27th, 2026 10:46 am
Kevin Sheedy says “to coach Essendon, you’ve got to love Essendon”.
The Bombers icon has responded to the news that James Hird, who captained Sheedy’s 2000 premiership team, is keen on the coaching gig at his old club.
Was it a surprise to four-time premiership coach Sheedy that Hird stated his desire to again coach the Dons?
“No, no, it doesn't worry me at all. I think it's good, I think it's open, it’s honest,” Sheedy said on SEN Breakfast.
“I did make a comment yesterday when I was interviewed that, ‘To coach Essendon, you’ve got to love Essendon’.”
And Sheedy is adamant that Hird still loves the club despite everything that happened with the supplements saga.
“I think he does and I think he’ll do anything to make sure he gets this right this time around if he ever gets it,” he continued.
“But he may not get it, there might be people at Essendon that may never want him to coach Essendon. I don't know who they are, but I think in the end the people and the fans most likely do.
“I don't know what the sort of feeling is around town but I would think that if he got a chance he wouldn't muck this one up.
“We all know how long and how hard it is to find a coach who can win you a premiership because I think Melbourne went through about 13 or 14 after Norm Smith and Richmond went through about six or seven in 10 years.”
Former Dons captain Tim Watson asked Sheedy: “In your mind, what difference does it make whether or not you love the club to coach the club?”
Sheedy, who played 251 games for Richmond before taking over at Windy Hill in 1981, could only speak of his own experiences.
“That's a very good question. I think that you go deeper and you dig deeper and you give it your life,” he replied.
“I couldn't do any more for Essendon when I coached them. I'm only going back to my own feelings too.
“Some guys go and coach a club and it's a job. To me it was never a job. So I think Hird is a bit like that type of person.”
What about the fact that he hasn't coached for 11 years?
“Well, I’d never coached before I got the job at Essendon,” Sheedy said.
“It all depends on what you want to do and how you think about things. I never went for an interview with the AFL to get the Giants job. They just said, you're doing it, go and talk to your wife and see if you can convince her to go up to Sydney. I didn't have one interview.
“So interviews can be important, but they're not the be all, end all. And I think that whether you haven't coached for five or eight years or whatever, you keep your toe in the water down in Port Melbourne.
“His position would be to get the best people around him obviously. You’ve got to find the best people to help you.”
Sheedy, who stepped down from the board in 2024, says he won’t campaign for Hird but would support him if he were to be successful in his pursuit.
“I won't do anything. All I'm asking you is to listen to me and say, well, you rang me to ask for an interview and I'm just giving it to you. I'm not out there canvassing for anybody,” he said further.
“Once he gets the job, I would help him. If he got it.
“It's really hard because you can't force your opinion on other people. I have spoken to people at times before, but they’d never ring to ask any advice.
“So they're the sort of things that happen. I actually would ask everybody I could how to find out to be a reasonably good coach. That's what you have to do. I went overseas, I chased knowledge anywhere and come back and tried to share it. And I think that's what leadership is about.”
If Hird were to get the job, what would be the upside?
“You'd probably say that it would keep the place a bit calmer than where it's been, I would think.
“I left Essendon off the board a couple of years back or about that. But I can see that happening at the time when Brad and James Hird went for the interviews. In many ways we're three years down the track and we haven't gone any further, probably gone worse.
“Without pushing Hird’s barrow, if he was wanting to go and coach the job, I would vote for him in my membership vote, simple as that, if you get a chance.
“It’s up to the board and the president to make that decision. Andrew Welsh is the president and he lives and dies by his own decisions.”
