Essendon great James Hird is "very conscious" of not "spoiling the process" of the club's search for a new senior coach, saying he has avoided contact with great friend and Bombers president Andrew Welsh.
Hird has declared his interest in returning to the role as Essendon senior coach, and would "love to be part of the process", 11 years after he led the club, which endured the supplements saga.
"It's been interesting. I thought the days of me being chased down the streets by cameras on motorbikes were well and truly gone, but we went back to that last week," Hird told Footy Classified.
"Putting a team together hasn't happened"
James Hird responds to reports he is putting a team together for if he wins the Essendon coaching job.#9FootyClassified | Watch on 9 & 9Now 🖥️ pic.twitter.com/guram73ALn
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) June 2, 2026
"There were a lot of stories, some true, some not true, some speculating. A lot of opinions about what I should do or shouldn't do. But for me, I stand by what I said last (week): I'd love to be part of the process and see what happens.
"It just got bigger and bigger and bigger all week to the point on the weekend, it felt like it was all-consuming for the football world. It certainly wasn't my intention."
Hird and Welsh have known each other for two decades, and the latter was coached by Hird in his final season as a player at the Bombers.
"Andrew Welsh is a good friend of mine, we've been friends for 20 years," Hird said. "I coached Andrew in his last game back in 2011 and I've known him since he was a young kid.
"I have been very conscious not to reach out to him because I think that is spoiling the process, and actually inserting myself in a way that I don't want to.
"I want Essendon, as I said the other night, to go about and go through an exhausting process – and if I am the candidate that they choose, fantastic. If I'm not, I'm not.
"I've been very conscious not to reach out to him because I think that is spoiling the process."
James Hird on why he still hasn't spoken to Andrew Welsh since announcing he wants to put his hat in the ring for the Bombers job.#9FootyClassified | Watch on 9 & 9Now 🖥️ pic.twitter.com/ElyKOSrA2x
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) June 2, 2026
"But in terms of contacting Essendon or being contacted by them, that hasn't happened."
Hird wants to make Essendon great again after the club continues to struggle year-on-year, inclusive of its finals-win drought, dating back to 2004.
Reports have suggested Hird has begun putting a team together of assistant coaches and football bosses if he were to land the vacancy at Tullamarine, to which he responded: "Obviously, you think about who you'd like. You've got people in the football world who you respect and who you'd like to work with.
"But putting a team together hasn't happened … but you don't get to this point now and not have been thinking about it day and night about how you would put it together."
"I think I've been preparing for this interview for the last 35 to 40 years."
