- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
James Hird will be coaching Essendon in 2015 and 2016. To the disappointment of all the moral crusaders, there will be no bloodletting today.
The original plan stands. Mark Thompson will be the Bombers’ caretaker coach until Hird resumes at the completion of his ban.
Like it or not, that is how it is.
The decision comes after Hird’s shaky tenure at Essendon was apparently threatened even further last week, when his wife Tania spoke unfavourably of the AFL on national television.
The hysteria that followed her comments was pathetic.
The reaction from the AFL, from the Essendon Football Club itself and from members of the media and public was nothing short of rabid. Heaven forbid if Tania Hird was actually an employee of the AFL or Essendon. Lucky she isn’t or it would have been a firing squad for her!
Since when in this country is a person not allowed to express an opinion? Tania Hird may be close to Essendon and the investigation that has gone on around it, but she is not a part of it. She is just as entitled as anyone else to express herself on the topic.
The AFL’s reaction was predictable. It did the same thing it always does when criticised or accused of something, it gets its back up and tries to throw its considerable weight around. Don’t be fooled by grandiose comments about player welfare being its main concern, this is all about brand protection. Why else would they even bother biting back in this case?
Had they just shrugged and expressed their disappointment, the story would have died a day later.
Essendon’s reaction was no better, fuelling unwanted speculation about the future of its estranged coach in the lead-up to its first game. Then to have the audacity to suggest that Tania Hird would be dragged in to face the club’s board beggared belief.
What power does the Essendon Football Club board think it actually has? Tania Hird does not need to answer to the club – not now, not ever. To suggest that she did reeked of a desperate arrogance.
No doubt the club was under some pressure from the AFL and wanted to be seen to be doing something. But instead of limiting the perceived fallout from Tania Hird’s comments, the club exacerbated the situation.
Their reaction gave the story its legs and for what? Absolutely nothing new, that’s what. Tania Hird’s comments were not revealing in any way – just a rehashing of sentiments that had already been well expressed.
And now, as the rekindled fires die down, everything remains as it was.
‘Bomber’ Thompson will continue in his role as caretaker coach. James Hird will return as head coach at the completion of his ban. And the supplements saga will continue to hang over the club like a dark cloud until ASADA comes out and either issues infraction notices or states that the players are in the clear.
Not until then can Essendon, and indeed the competition as a whole, move forward from this whole sorry ordeal.
Those who think that sacking James Hird (or silencing his wife) will expedite the matter are simply kidding themselves.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.