Footy legend James Hird QUITS football in shock move as he leaves his coaching role with GWS Giants
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Footy legend James Hird LEAVES football by stepping down from his coaching role with the GWS Giants months after being voted down as the new boss of the Bombers following a shocking scandal.
- Giants confirm Hird has not returned to club
- He had unsuccessfully applied to become Essendon manager
- Legend’s time in the game dates back to 1992.
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Essendon icon James Hird’s long AFL career could end after he stepped down from his managerial role with the GWS Giants in a move that is sure to surprise football fans.
GWS confirmed his departure after the legend tried unsuccessfully to secure the vacant Bombers head coaching job last year, only to fall victim to a shocking hiccup during the hiring process.
It is now believed that he is engaging in commercial interests, according to Sports Code.
The 49-year-old joined the Giants in 2022 as a part-time leadership advisor before becoming an assistant coach.
The move followed a lengthy break from playing after he stepped down as Essendon boss in 2015 due to the club’s infamous drug scandal. He managed the club for four years.
Hird (pictured working with the Giants last year) requested to return to his old role as Essendon head coach when Ben Rutten was sacked at the end of the 2022 season, but missed out.
The football legend (pictured while coaching the Bombers in 2015) was reportedly told he had won the job before the club shamefully backed down and left with Brad Scott.
When the Bombers job reopened last year after the sacking of Ben Rutten, Hird applied and was reportedly told he had won the job, only for the club to confess that he had made an embarrassing mistake and that Brad Scott was getting the job instead.
Hird did not apply for the Giants’ head coaching job when it became available due to the firing of Leon Cameron early last season.
He was added to the staff of interim coach and former Bombers teammate Mark McVeigh at GWS after Cameron’s departure in May.
Hird admitted to being naive and trusting “bad” people when discussing his role in the infamous Essendon drug disaster, which put 34 people and their families “through hell”.
The Bombers were at the center of one of the biggest scandals in Australian sports history, with 34 players found guilty on appeal of taking performance-enhancing drugs during the 2012 season.
The 49-year-old made his mark as a superstar player with Essendon from 1992 to 2007, winning the flag in 1993 and 2000 (pictured with manager Kevin Sheedy in 2001)
Hird praised his wife Tania (pictured together last year) for being his support when the Bombers’ drug scandal left him contemplating suicide.
Four years later, the AFL suspended the players involved in the scandal for 12 months, while 2012 Brownlow medalist Jobe Watson had to return his medal.
He revealed that he considered committing suicide when the Bombers drug scandal broke and became the biggest story in Australian sport.
“It was literally by far the worst moment of my life, but by far the worst moment, more importantly, in the lives of 34 players and a lot of good people in football,” he said.
‘I really felt for my wife [Tania] because she was trying to keep our family together. She is a very proud person and also very defensive with me because she obviously saw me go through a lot.
“I was sitting in the car and I had some shocking thoughts about what was coming next.
Hird recalled a conversation with a representative of Beyond Blue who sent a special mental health response unit from Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital to meet him at his home.
“I told him: ‘Dude, this is how I feel. I feel like I can’t go on. I’ve brought shame to my family, shame to my football club, my profession. I’ve lost my identity.'” he said.