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Brad Johnson urges Essendon to steer clear of James Hird in search for new head coach as Bombers legend ‘is not the right guy’ to replace sacked Ben Rutten
- Essendon sacked coach Ben Rutten on Sunday after a dismal season
- Bombers finished 15th a year after making a surprise finals appearance
- James Hird has emerged as a potential candidate to replace Rutten
- Hird won two flags with the Bombers as a player and coached them for four years
- But he was in charge during the club’s notorious drug scandal in 2011 and 2012
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AFL great Brad Johnson has urged Essendon to steer clear of James Hird in their search for a new head coach, warning the Bombers he is not ‘the right guy’.
Essendon fired Ben Rutten on Sunday after the Bombers ended a dismal season in 15th place on the ladder with a 7-15 record just 12 months after making a surprise appearance in the final.
A turbulent campaign on the field took an even more embarrassing turn off it on Friday, when the club admitted it had launched an ambitious and ultimately fruitless bid to lure Alastair Clarkson to Tullamarine.
James Hird has emerged as a potential candidate to take the Essendon coaching job
Rutten was not aware of the development and while Clarkson signed a five-year deal with North Melbourne as he announced his return to footy after a year away from the game, it made his position untenable.
Hird’s name has been floated as a potential replacement for Rutten, but Johnson believes the Bombers should look elsewhere instead.
‘I don’t think James Hird is the right guy,’ the former Western Bulldogs star said on Fox Footy’s Sunday Ticket.
‘From what Michael Hurley was saying on retirement around what he has been through with their instability as a football club based around his time and James Hird was part of that.’
Ben Rutten was sacked on Sunday after two seasons in charge of the Bombers
He won 17 of his 44 games in charge of the Bombers and made the finals last year
An Essendon legend, Hird spent his entire 17-season AFL career with the Bombers, winning the flag in 1993 and in 2000 as captain.
He then returned to the club as the coach in 2011, before departing four years later in the wake of Essendon’s notorious drug scandal after serving a 12–month suspension in 2014 imposed by the AFL as a result of the supplements fiasco.
While the 49-year-old fits the bill of ‘experienced coach’ Essendon president Dave Barham said the club is looking for, Johnson insisted the Bombers needed a clean start.
Former Bulldogs great Brad Johnson has urged Essendon to steer clear of Hird
‘I don’t think it’s the right move to go back again, they’ve got to go forward in a completely different direction,’ he said.
‘They need stability, they need a whole clean page.’
Along with Hird, who returned to the AFL as part-time assistant coach at GWS this season, several other names have been linked with the Bombers coaching job.
According to the Herald Sun, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley and his West Coast counterpart Adam Simpson are both in the running, as are former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon and ex-Adelaide boss Don Pyke.
Hird is an Essendon legend and won two premierships with the club in 17 seasons
Essendon president David Barham said the club wants to hire an ‘experienced coach’
Speaking on Sunday, Barham conceded the decision to fire Rutten, who won 17 of his 44 games in charge, had not been taken lightly.
‘Everybody got their say, everybody had a view and we made a really considered decision because we cared a lot for Ben.
‘This was a long conversation. We think we gave Ben as good an opportunity as we could.
‘But we think this time and with this list a more experienced coach might be able to get more out of this list.’