Terry Daniher urges Dons to ‘fight on’; Matthew Lloyd distances himself from Hird push

Essendon legend Terry Daniher said he’d welcome James Hird to apply for the vacant senior coaching role, but has a simple message for the club’s favourite son: he must go through a thorough process, like any other candidate.

Two-time Essendon premiership captain Daniher visited the Hangar on Tuesday and gave an impromptu rev-up to the club’s beleaguered playing group, imploring them to not drop their bundle.

Asked what lessons modern-day players could learn from the legacy of Neale Daniher – Terry’s brother and predecessor as Essendon captain who lost his long battle with motor neurone disease a week ago – the 1984-85 premiership skipper took his “little moment” to challenge the players to “fight on”.

Essendon have won just one game in the past year and slumped to a 1-11 season record with their loss to West Coast on Sunday, only days after sacking fourth-year coach Brad Scott.

“Fight on boys,” Terry Daniher said.

“[You’re] going through a tough period at the moment. There’s no question about it.

“[You] can’t be much lower … you’ve got to face the facts. You’ve got to face them head on, as Nealo would.”

Neale Daniher will be fondly remembered at next week’s annual “Big Freeze” match between Collingwood and Melbourne at the MCG, as well as the clash between the Bombers and Blues the night before. His state memorial is next Wednesday, June 10.

Hird last week declared his interest in returning as Essendon senior coach in a virtual job interview on Footy Classified, where he is a regular panelist. He declared he was ready to return to the job he held for 85 games from 2011 to 2015, saying he wanted the Bombers to be “the best club in the AFL again”.

But Daniher said Hird was no different to any other potential candidate. “You’re just like the others,” he said.

“I think if you’re running the right process it’s only fair that James has got to go through it too,” Daniher said.

“If he’s putting his hand up …. ‘OK, James, you want to coach? You’re just like the others. Line up and put your best foot forward’.

“I’d love to have him back, but I also want it [the selection process] done the right way.”

Emerging star Archie Roberts was among a group of Essendon players who have visited Scott since his sacking. The former North Melbourne and Essendon coach didn’t get the chance to speak to Essendon’s playing group after news of his departure was leaked.

“It was great. I’m very glad I did it,” said 20-year-old Roberts. “It’s something that I’ll be looking back on later in my career.

“It was great to speak to him, speak to his family, [and] spend some quality time.

“For me, he’s had the biggest impact on my career. He drafted me as an 18-year-old. He gave me the opportunity to play the AFL.”

Roberts said the past seven days had been “abnormal” and it was difficult to prepare for Sunday night’s game against the Eagles.

“All we sort of do is move forward and back Solly [interim coach Dean Solomon] and the coaches in, and play his way.

“We’re looking forward to the rest of the 12 weeks of the season, and just moving forward as a group.”

Roberts was asked if he supported the decision to remove Scott.

“It [the club’s move] is certainly above my pay grade,” he said. “I’ve got nothing really to comment on that.

“Whether I support it – I’ve got really nothing to say on that topic.”

Essendon team of the century member Daniher was later quizzed on whether “tough love” was what the current playing group needed most. He replied: “They’re big boys now”.

“They’ve got to take on the responsibility to get us back up there, [to] get us off the floor,” Daniher added.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids at the club.

“Sometimes you can lose a little bit, [and] go off track.

“I look my little moment [today] where I could put my two bob’s worth in … whether it will make a difference, I don’t know. I hope it does.

“Players today, they should be hard enough on themselves anyway to pick themselves up.

“We all have down times – that hasn’t changed since the time I played.

“Even though you’re not winning the ball, you still get across and shepherd, and chase and put a bit of voice pressure on. For God’s sake, bang them when you get the chance, knock them over and slow them down a bit.”

In further troubling news for the injury-plagued Bombers, key defender Lewis Hayes re-injured his knee in the VFL on Sunday in his first game back after a 12-month lay-off with an ACL injury.

Although he played out the game, the 21-year-old reported soreness on Monday after hyperextending the ligament in the second quarter of the match.

Scans confirmed the ACL was damaged.

Matthew Lloyd denies involvement in Hird push

Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd has categorically denied he was part of a clandestine campaign to undermine former Bombers coach Brad Scott and push for James Hird to return to the helm of the club.

Last week, The Age revealed the plot to reinstall Hird at Tullamarine – or the “redemption campaign”, as club leaders called it – turned serious in March last year with a telephone message from former Essendon chairman Paul Little to David Barham, who held the title at the time.

Lloyd confirmed on Monday night that he contacted football pundit Kane Cornes, who had said on SEN that the former champion goal-kicker was among Essendon figures behind the campaign to return Hird as coach.

“I don’t how I got dragged into that at all,” Lloyd said on Nine’s Footy Classified.

“I did text Kane today and let him know that I wasn’t happy with that.”

In discussions on SEN about the vacant Essendon coaching position and the political machinations of the job chase after Hird publicly confirmed his strong interest in the job, reporter Tom Morris and Cornes both named Lloyd as a central ally of his former teammate.

In response to a question from Adam Simpson about the members of “Team Hird”, Morris said:

“The team behind him? Well, Paul Little is very much part of it.

“There’s other people around the outskirts – well, Matthew Lloyd.”

Separately, Cornes said: “I read this morning in the [Australian] Financial Review of all places that Paul Little’s push for James Hird is back on.

“That is absolute rubbish that James Hird had no knowledge that Paul Little was pushing as well as others, like [Matthew] Lloyd and like [Adrian] Dodoro ... there were secret coffees going on left, right and centre.”

Lloyd said that in his long career in football media, he had had to regularly discuss the plight of his former club.

“You know what, the most tiring thing I’ve done in my media is talk about Essendon’s failings, year after year, time after time,” Lloyd said.

“I want the best coach, and I don’t care who it is.”

Asked specifically about being a member of a “clandestine cabal”, Lloyd said: “I’ve never met Paul Little in my life.

“I’ve never [even] had a drink of coffee in my life. I don’t drink coffee.

“I’m the least political person – because I’m not interested. I’m not interested in politics.

“It is categorically wrong.

“To Tom Morris and to Kane Cornes who put that out there, that’s factually incorrect.”

Lloyd confirmed that he wanted 253-gamer Hird to be an option for Essendon, who are languishing in bottom spot with a 1-11 record and last week sacked fourth-year coach Scott.

“I’m not pro-James [Hird], I’m not against James. I just want James to be part of the process,” Lloyd said.

“If they decide he’s not part of the process, so be it because at the end of the day, I want Essendon to pick the best coach.

“If it’s the next Adam Kingsley or the next Craig McRae – whoever it is – that’s what I want for the club.”

Former Geelong champion Jimmy Bartel encouraged experienced and successful coaches to “have the confidence” to chase the Essendon coaching job, regardless of whether Hird was a preferred candidate.

“I might be on a little bit of an island ... when I hear coaches back out of it [the process] because they’re afraid to compete,” Bartel said on Footy Classified.

“But if we keep hearing time and time again, ‘James Hird hasn’t been a coach for 10 years. He hasn’t been in the hunt week to week’ ...”

West Coast premiership coach Simpson last week cast doubt on Essendon’s selection process, while former Sydney counterpart John Longmire was keeping an open mind after Hird’s public declaration for the job.

Simpson was backing up the thoughts of former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, who had said he would not apply for the Essendon job while it appeared Hird was the frontrunner.

“What are you fearful for?” Bartel said on Monday night.

“Because your head coach, wherever you appoint your head coach, has got to be the strongest personality in your group.

“You’ve got to get the whole entire club to believe your philosophy, your direction – on recruiting, list management, development – and if you’ve all these concerns that everyone keeps highlighting, shouldn’t you have the confidence to be able to beat someone [else for the job]?”

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