Kevin Sheedy has backed James Hird to make a move back into the AFL coaches box.
The Essendon great believes Hird deserves a second chance to resume his coaching career after he resigned from Essendon nearly four years ago over the clubโs infamous supplements saga.
The Herald Sun reports that Hird has recently told friends that he would consider a return to the game if the right opportunity arose, after declining a part-time Melbourne-based scouting role at Fremantle last year.
Sheedy believes the champion midfielder shouldnโt be punished any longer.
โI would stake everything I had that James Hird will be a great coach, if he is ever given the chance,โ Sheedy told the Herald Sun.
โPlease donโt underestimate the young man who has a fierce amount of pride and would have been hurt (by the scandal) like anyone else would have been hurt.
โAnd I hate to say it again, but there has never been a positive drugs test.
โIโm not blaming anyone, but there is no way known he would have wished for what happened.
โAnd he has said sorry. How many times do you have to say sorry?
โI know people will jump at shadows because of what happened and thatโs unfortunate.
โBut he is one of the most intelligent football thinkers Iโve met. I think he is prime, ready to coach at an AFL club (again).โ
And Sheedy isnโt the only one who feels Hird deserves an opportunity.
Three-time premiership Bomber Tim Watson, whose son Jobe was banned for twelve months and stripped of a Brownlow Medal because of the supplements saga under Hird, said that he has no issue with the ex-coach returning to the AFL.
โWe all know what he was associated with, thatโs been well-documented and played out over a long, long period of time and it dragged the game into a state of disrepute and mess. We all understand that,โ Watson told SEN.
โBut the fact that heโs been out of the game, heโs said his apologies, he wasnโt penalised really in any way but he was out of the game for a period of time, so if he wants to come back, I donโt see why he shouldnโt come back.
โHeโs had that time as a senior coach, so heโs had that experience. Heโs had the other experiences that he got dragged into and then heโs had to look his way through that and heโs been to ground zero as a human being.โ
Sheedy told the Herald Sun that he and Hird met for lunch last week.
โWe discuss football,โ Sheedy said.
โIโve got no doubt if he had his head wrapped around a good club, and a good club which needed help, I would back him in.
โI think if a (Stephen) Dank walked into the club now, he would know what to do.โ
