The Essendon crisis: Club and senior coach James Hird part ways Date August 18, 2015 - 1:28PM
Jake Niall
EXCLUSIVE
Essendon are expected to announce they have parted company with senior coach James Hird, effective immediately.
The resignation of Hird follows discussions by the Essendon board after the club's massive 112-point loss to Adelaide. But the move has been in the wind for some time, with the board increasingly of the view that Hird should move on.
The Essendon players were told of Hird's fate at about lunchtime on Tuesday. The club will hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Hird, who had a year to run on his contract, will be replaced by an interim coach, who will be one of the current assistants, such as Matthew Egan or Hayden Skipworth. Club great and ex-Fremantle coach Mark Harvey will not be the replacement.
Hird's exit involves a negotiated settlement on the remainder of his contract - speculation is that he was due to be paid close to $750,000 for 2016.
Fairfax Media believes the Essendon board held discussions on Monday evening.
Hird's exit has been seen as inevitable following a succession of heavy defeats by the Bombers, who have won only five matches this season, with the only question the extent to which the players' slump has been caused by the draining impact of the WADA appeal - which will be heard be the Court of Arbritration for Sport in November.
The coach appeared resigned to his fate in the aftermath of Saturday's heavy defeat.
Hird's exit means the Bombers will be one of three clubs in the market for a new coach, along with Carlton and Adelaide, and his departure makes it easier for the club to compete for candidates.
His exit also marks one of the most turbulent episodes in AFL history,in which ASADA launched an investigation into Essendon's 2012 supplements program that eventually saw the players acquitted by an AFL tribunal of taking banned substances, only to see the World Anti-Doping Agency appeal the verdict. Hird was suspended by the AFL for 12 months for bringing the game into disrepute late in 2013 when he also negotiated a three year contract extension, including the 12 months of his suspension for his role in the supplements program, which also saw the Dons removed from the finals, some draft picks removed and heavily fined.
Hird coached Essendon in to the finals in his first season, 2011, missed the eight in 2012 following a soft-tissue injury plague and coached the Dons to seventh in 2013 before he was replaced by Mark Thompson for the 2014 season.
MORE TO COME
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-essendon-crisis-club-and-senior-coach-james-hird-part-ways-20150818-gj1noe.html#ixzz3j8QIraOW
