Wednesday Tidbits

Essendon in mourning

Windy Hill is mourning the death of Allan Hird, the grandfather of current Bomber star James Hird at the age of 88.

Allan Hird played 102 senior VFL matches for the Bombers between 1940 and 1945 and was a member of Essendon’s 1942 VFL Premiership team.

In 1946, Hird became senior coach of St. Kilda for two seasons before returning to Windy Hill as reserves captain-coach from 1948-55.

A year later Hird joined the Essendon committee and served there from 1955-75 including positions as Treasurer 1959-60, Vice-President 1965-68 and President 1969-75.

Essendon named a grandstand after him at Windy Hill and Allan Hird Jnr, James’s father, also played for the Bombers.

Sheedy wants to stay

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy on Wednesday stated for the first time that he wants to coach Essendon in 2008 as his future become a hotly debated topic.

In the final year of his contract, Sheedy is under pressure to retain his job for a 28th season following on the Bombers poor performances in recent years.

“If the club said, ‘look we really would like to look at another coach’ then you’ve got to consider that,” he said. “If you’re not getting the best out of players then you’d have to consider it, but in general you would have to think that most of the
senior players have played fairly well except one or two. and the younger players they don’t even know you because they’ve only been here a year or two.”

“The board’s always been pretty good here and I’ve been a very fortunate person; 27 years at one club, it’s pretty unrealistic isn’t it in this day and age? So I just look at it that way.”

“There’s a lot of work to be done in footy if I don’t coach, but if I do coach – either Essendon or against Essendon – then I will really coach well, I can tell you.”

Sheedy’s statement comes a week after Essendon Chairman Ray Horsburgh said that the club could only finish 7th or worse in 2007.

Lovett & Welsh in doubt for Lions clash

On the field, Essendon suffered a double blow at Windy Hill training on Wednesday with Andrew Lovett and Andrew Welsh both failing to see out the session.

Welsh has been struggling with a hamstring strain, while Lovett left the training track with a rumoured knee injury.

In brighter news, Essendon skipper Matthew Lloyd is expected back to tackle the Brisbane Lions at the Phone Dome this Saturday afternoon.

Posted 16 May 07 in News