Latest news with #JamesHird
News.com.au
7 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
AFL icon casts doubts over video amid suggestions Bulldogs players aren't happy
AFL legend James Hird and commentator Eddie McGuire have cast doubts over footage shared by Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. The Bulldogs star is still training privately away from the football club after he was granted an indefinite leave of absence to deal with personal issues. It was reported last month the former No. 1 draft pick had checked himself into a health retreat in a key step towards reviving his AFL career. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Now the 23-year-old appears to have further signalled his intent to return to top-level football after taking to social media to share videos of himself running and boxing. The clips — published on Instagram and TikTok in black and white with professional editing and soundtrack — appear to have been taken from Byron Bay where Ugle-Hagan has reportedly been spending time. The promoted footage dropped just hours before it was first reported by leading football reporter Tom Morris that Ugle-Hagan has ambitions to play for the Sydney Swans next year. 'The Western Bulldogs are weighing up what they do next with him,' Morris told Channel 9's Footy Classified. 'My understanding is Jamarra has told those close to him he would like to play for the Sydney Swans next year, in a perfect world. 'Whether that takes place, whether the Swans are keen or not, I'm not sure. The Dogs would have to trade him, because of course, he's contracted.' Essendon icon Hird and McGuire suggested on Tuesday night AFL clubs would want to see more than a glamourised fitness video from Ugle-Hagan before they would consider recruiting him. 'I'd like to see him training with his football club,' Hird said bluntly. 'And commit to a big block of training. I can't imagine any club would look at that and say that's enough for us to think he's draftable. It's the first step, but it's a long way from being anywhere near what a football team needs.' McGuire said on Nine's Footy Classified he saw nothing in the footage — that was produced by Byron Bay-based personal trainer business, Byron Boxing — that suggested Ugle-Hagan was ready to come back. 'Let's be honest. It's an edit that's been put together,' McGuire said. 'It's been chopped by somebody. Some nice tight cuts of a couple of things. I mean, I could get up and do that at the moment and look like I'm running a marathon.' Hird quipped: 'I've seen you box too. You'd be better than that'. Morris questioned if McGuire was 'suspect' on the footage. The former Collingwood president responded: 'No. You know what it is. It says I'm getting my mind right. I don't think it went over well with a few of his Western Bulldogs teammates today who are preparing for a game tomorrow. They're tight edits. There's nothing in that that says he's ready.' Ugle-Hagan, who is contracted until the end of 2026 at Whitten Oval, has not played any senior footy this year due to his personal off-field issues. He had trained sparingly with AFL — and at times VFL — teammates before his official leave of absence began in late April. The Bulldogs have told Code sports there has been no change to the conditions of Ugle-Hagan's indefinite leave. If the Bulldogs grant Ugle-Hagan permission to leave, the football club will still be in a position to negotiate a potential trade for any suitors that come calling with contract offers for Ugle-Hagan. The Bulldogs next face Hawthorn in a Thursday night blockbuster at the MCG.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I've never seen that': James Hird takes blowtorch to Swans after shambolic scenes
Essendon great James Hird has taken a blowtorch to the Swans and says one shambolic play in Saturday night's huge loss to Adelaide sums up Sydney's struggles in the AFL this season. Crows star Wayne Milera probably echoed the thoughts of many fans when he described the Swans as a "rabble" after his side's thumping 90-point victory at the SCG. And Hird pointed to Sydney's lack of class up forward, their lacklustre ball movement and inadequate distribution of the footy as major issues for first-year head coach Dean Cox to try and fix. "I think their biggest issue is they haven't got a forward line," Hird said on Nine's Footy Furnace. "They haven't got a forward line that can take a contested mark and their ball movement has gone off which was their one-wood last year. Their congested side of things is not where it needs to be, they rely on too few around the middle of the ground." The Swans have been one of the most consistent sides in the AFL over the last decade and went down to Brisbane in last year's grand final after finishing the regular season on top of the ladder. But Sydney's lofty standards have slipped in 2025 as the injuries have racked up, with Cox admitting Saturday night's performance against Adelaide was "unacceptable and embarrassing". Hird agrees and says the Swans' effort areas and failure to execute the fundamentals is a major concern. "And I think the one thing I've loved about the Swans over the last 10 years is their standards. Everything was done - not perfectly - there were some mistakes but not too many," he added. The Essendon great singled out a second quarter goal for the Crows where two Sydney players just needed to scramble the ball through the posts and concede a behind. Instead, they were caught dawdling and allowed Adelaide forward Riley Thilthorpe to toe the ball through the sticks for a goal, in a moment Hird said was indicative of the Swans' struggles this year. "I've never seen a Swans backline let a goal like that go through and it might be unlucky... but I just can't believe that ball went through and I just think it's just symbolic of where the Swans are at," Hird added. "Yes, it's not a massive thing, it's not a game plan thing but I've never seen a Swans group of players in the last 10 years let that happen." Hird and three-time premiership winning Geelong great Jimmy Bartel were also shocked to hear that Milera and the Crows apologised for referring to the Swans as a "rabble". The AFL greats insisted that such criticism was fully warranted after the 90-point hiding. "So what's the cut-off point, 100? You got belted by 90 points," Bartel said. "You were a rabble. We've been a rabble before when we've been belted. Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers reportedly called Swans counterpart Tom Harley to apologise for Milera's comments and Crows teammates insist he meant no harm. RELATED: Pies' move set to force rivals into rethink as Ginnivan predicts change Calls for Kane Cornes to be sanctioned over Luke Beveridge incident AFL world gutted over heartbreaking news about West Coast hero But Hird agreed with Bartel that the criticism was warranted after Saturday night's game and took no issues with the situation. "It seems to me as if they were a rabble and you know when players are back-chatting each other and talking on the ground, you really love it when the opposition is doing it," Hird added. "But at the end of the day they were a mess, they really were a mess on Saturday night."
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
From the Pocket: Essendon must stop pining for the past after finding a semblance of stability
It was all trundling along nicely for Essendon. The club spent the past month gently tempering expectations, reminding everyone that this is a long-term project, that there will be bad losses and barren patches, but to stay the course. On field, they weren't beating much, but they were winning, they were defending, and they were having a crack. Coach Brad Scott was getting the most out of a limited but willing team. That all came unglued on Saturday night, when they were trounced by a red-hot Western Bulldogs. Essendon reverted to type and sank back into the pack. Almost immediately, the club was batting away suggestions that Scott's coaching tenure was under threat, and that Bombers great James Hird was the man to replace him. In response to Caroline Wilson's suggestion that the wolves were circling, the former Essendon chair Paul Little reportedly told the veteran reporter: 'You never say never to anything. It hasn't been an easy time for the club these past few years. There may come a time where there is a need for a restructure. If I felt I could add value to the club, and if they felt I could help, I would consider it.' That was quickly quashed on Nine's Footy Classified, a program whose entire purpose suddenly seems to be to repudiate what has been reported on Channel Seven an hour earlier. One show says it's on, another says it's off. The dogs bark, the caravan moves on, and the rest of us are left scratching our heads. Hird came within a whisker of reclaiming the Essendon coaching job in September 2022. Kevin Sheedy, his chief backer, was on Lindsay Fox's luxury yacht, sailing around the world with hundreds of movers and shakers to celebrate the trucking magnate's 85th birthday. He was confident that Hird would be appointed, and that the old Essendon was back. Back on dry land a fortnight later, he was informed his man had missed out. Essendon is an unusual football club. For years now it has been very political, riven by factions, dictated to by coterie groups and deferential to its past. It has presented as a club that can't let go, and still pines for the glory years. It manifests in many ways. You see it in the axe-grinding columns Allan Hird phones into the Herald Sun. You see it in the former players who run for board positions. You see it in lifers like former list boss Adrian Dodoro, who strutted around like he owned the place, became the king of October, drafted the wrong players, and then took the club to the Fair Work Commission. To his credit, president David Barham has sought to cut ties with the past. 'Harking back to the 80s, 90s or the 2000s and wishing we could return to that just causes drama and disunity,' he said at the AGM last year. 'The competition is so far removed from those times, it is almost a completely different game.' Barham has made mistakes and rubbed plenty of people up the wrong way. He sacked a coach, rolled a president, and appointed the shortest tenured CEO in corporate history. But he's honest about what has gone wrong, and what needs to change. He called it 20 years of 'quick fixes and shortcuts'; 20 years of scandals, sugar hits, false dawns, bad trades, draft busts, and schadenfreude; 20 years of Stephen Dank, Andrew Thorburn, Hird and Dodoro. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion On Footy Classified on Tuesday night, striking the right balance between bewilderment and defiance, Scott sat next to the man who was said to be in line to replace him. Scott spins a good game. But he and the people who employ him are right. For the first time in a long time at Essendon, there is clarity and a semblance of stability and sanity. To defer to the past, to pine for once what was, and to jump at shadows would rank among the biggest mistakes in recent times at a club that has made more than most. This is an extract from Guardian Australia's free weekly AFL email, From the Pocket. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
James Hird blindsided by claims of plot to bring him back as Essendon coach
Former Essendon coach James Hird says he 'nearly fell off the couch' when he saw a report ex-chairman Paul Little wants to return to the Bombers board and bring Hird back as coach. It comes as veteran reporter Caroline Wilson claims Hird still 'harbours an ambition to coach Essendon' again following his messy exit from the club in the aftermath of the supplements saga. On Monday night, Wilson reported Little would be interested in returning to the club he chaired between 2013 and 2015. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. He oversaw the fallout after Essendon players were injected with substances such as anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 and thymosin - later concluded by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be the banned performance-enhancing substance Thymosin Beta-4. Sanctions included the club being banned from the 2013 finals series, Hird being suspended for 12 months and 34 players being suspended during the 2016 season. Hird returned as coach after serving his suspension in 2014 but then resigned in 2015 when the Bombers were languishing near the bottom of the ladder. He briefly returned as an assistant coach at GWS in 2022 under ex-teammate and interim boss Mark McVeigh, and has since taken a key role at VFL side Port Melbourne, suggesting he still holds interest in coaching. But Hird's return to the Bombers would reportedly be part of a broader move inspired by agitators who believe the club is on the wrong path under coach Brad Scott and president Dave Barham - who are attempting to move on from an era led by those longing desperately for Essendon's glory days. Little 'has left the door very much open to a return to the Essendon board, a return that, in my view, would include James Hird as coach', Wilson said on Seven on Monday night. 'All year, this story has been festering. Kevin Sheedy, who left the board, Adrian Dodoro, who left the club in really highly acrimonious circumstances ... there's been barbs from both at various people at the club. 'But we had started to hear after the club resigned Brad Scott until the end of 2027 that there was some unrest from some of the old guard who weren't happy about the re-signing, didn't think it was necessary.' Little told Wilson: 'You never say never to anything. It hasn't been an easy time for the club these past few years. There may come a time when there is a need for a restructure. If I felt I could add value to the club, and if they felt I could help, then I would consider it.' Wilson extrapolated that Hird would be part of any Little return, which stunned the Essendon great. 'It's news to me and I haven't spoken to Paul Little for months,' he told Nine. 'I nearly fell off the couch when I heard it.'
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
AFL fans all say same thing after James Hird makes first appearance in three years
James Hird proved an overwhelming success as he returned to the AFL world for the first time in three years on Sunday night in his new TV role on Channel 9. The Essendon Bombers champion appeared alongside Tom Morris and Jimmy Bartel on 'Footy Furnace', where they tackled some of the big issues to come from the weekend's games. Hird said he had no issue with the clash between coaches Craig McRae and Adam Kingsley in the GWS Giants' win over Collingwood, and predicted Harley Reid will move back to Victoria from the West Coast Eagles in the very near future. The former Essendon coach also said it's "inconceivable" the AFL hasn't returned the 'soft cap' back to what it was before 2021. The AFL made a raft of financial cuts to save the league when Covid hit, including reducing the amount coaches and staff can be paid outside the salary cap. Hird said "we're losing very good coaches from the system" because the limitations are still in place. The soft cap was $9.5 million in 2019, $7.675m in 2025 and will only be boosted to $8.1m by 2027. "If you talk to any assistant coaches who were around pre-Covid and are still coaching now, the conditions are nowhere near where they need to be," Hird stated. "They look after the biggest assets in the game - the players - and they teach them as people as well as players. If coaches are leaving the game because they're not getting enough I think that's very, very sad." Hird held an assistant role with GWS in 2022, but Sunday night was the first time he was back in AFL circles for three years. He's previously worked on radio, but in 2025 will have a full-gig on TV with Nine. Hird has replaced Leigh Matthews on 'Footy Furnace', and will also make regular appearances on 'Footy Classified' - most likely on Wednesday nights. 'I am thrilled to bring my perspective to the table," he said in a statement late last year. 'With Footy Furnace entering its second year, we're set to deliver even more hard-hitting insights and conversations that fans won't want to miss. I can't wait to get started and dive into what promises to be an unforgettable season.' RELATED: Nick Daicos ripped over 'unacceptable' detail as Pies provide update Jamarra Ugle-Hagan in shock link to Collingwood amid troubles His return to the media comes after his split with wife Tania became public knowledge in January. Fans were highly impressed by his work on 'Footy Furnace' on Sunday night, showering the 52-year-old with praise and celebrating his return. Hird will always be a divisive figure due to the peptides scandal that occurred during his time coaching the Bombers. But the vast majority were happy to see him back on Sunday night. One person wrote on social media: "Good synergy between the three of you (hosts). One of the few shows I'll be tuning into this year purely because it's all footy and no headline grabbing click bait." Another person commented: "Brings a tear to the eye to see the GOAT back on the screen." While a third added: "Master stroke. Articulate and extremely knowledgeable. Hope we see more of him." Having James Hird on Furnace this year 🔥 — Tom Morris (@tommorris32) March 9, 2025 Great to have Hirdy back 🐐 — Bruh Watson (@BBrahoni) March 9, 2025 Speaking of losing good coaches, you were certainly one good coach who We lost when you went through the troubles at Essendon. You're just too good in the media Hirdy. #9FootyFurnace — Alex Sar #DonTheSash (@alexmatthewsar) March 9, 2025 Welcome Back to #9FootyFurnace @tommorris32 & Jimmy Bartel & Welcome to #9FootyFurnace James Hird. — Judith Kelly (@Kelly1Judy) March 9, 2025
