Essendon legend Hird makes call on coaching future
Essendon legend James Hird has categorically ruled out a return to AFL coaching, emphatically shutting down resurfaced speculation linking him to the Bombers.
Two days after Essendon's 91-point smashing by the Western Bulldogs, former Bombers president Paul Little gave a provocative statement saying he would not rule out a push to return to the club's board.
The report on Seven claimed Little, who led the Bombers from 2013-15 after the damaging supplements regime, would seek to remove incumbent Brad Scott and install Hird as coach if he was back in charge.
In a bizarre twist, Scott was already locked in to appear on Nine's Footy Classified program with Hird – a regular panellist – on Tuesday night. Nine is the owner of this masthead.
Seated next to Scott when asked if he wanted to coach again in the AFL, Hird said he didn't.
'I've got a business that is taking a lot of my time, and it's actually quite concerning when reports like that come on air,' Hird said on Footy Classified.
'I get calls all day from my investors saying, 'what are you doing? Why are you entertaining this', so it damages my business.
'I haven't got ambitions. I'm loving what I'm doing with my son [Tom] down at Port Melbourne, and that is the extent of it.'
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