I Hird a rumour

Rohan Connolly gambles for newspaper, club and player

IT WAS one of the game's most-publicised retirements. But barely 12 months after giving AFL football away, former Essendon champion James Hird may be back.

At 35, and turning 36 before the start of the 2009 AFL season, Hird is believed to be seeking a meeting with Essendon coach Matthew Knights this week to discuss the potential resumption of one of football's great careers.

It is an amazing about-face from a man who appeared to have left the game at the perfect time, and fully satisfied with his achievements, a fifth best-and-fairest in his final season of 2007 the perfect exclamation mark.

But Hird has clearly been getting particularly itchy feet watching his former teammates go about establishing a new order under the coaching of Knights, who, incredibly, would be only Hird's second AFL coach, his entire 16-season career having been under Kevin Sheedy.

He's not the only one. Another former Don, Dean Solomon, out of contract after two seasons with Fremantle, is also keen to return to the club that gave him his start in AFL football in 1998.

Solomon, 28, had a relatively successful time with the Dockers, but a stint that appears to have ended in ignominy, courtesy of his eight-match suspension for an elbow to the jaw of Geelong's Cameron Ling mid-season.

Both Hird and Solomon were part of a group of Essendon players who holidayed in the US recently, where the idea of a return to Windy Hill was raised.

With Essendon having begun a new era under Knights, promoting a host of youngsters this season such as Kyle Reimers and Sam Lonergan, it is a proposal that will raise many eyebrows, and provoke a mountain of scepticism, particularly in the case of Hird.

But maybe it shouldn't. Whilst the theoretical recruitment of a 35-year-old in the current environment sounds superficially absurd, Hird is no typical retiree.

His last season, at 34, was one of his finest, a best-and-fairest win the proof. Hird has reportedly kept himself in peak physical condition.

A former teammate who has spent considerable time with him lately says the Essendon legend is "flying" and "super-fit". He is also considerably mentally fresher, the year-long absence having reinforced his love for the game.

That was something remarked upon by another teammate, current Bomber captain Matthew Lloyd, who was also with Hird in the US, on radio last weekend.

Lloyd, 30, said he had changed his mind about choosing a retirement date after speaking with Hird, who had told him to play as long as he possibly could, a remark that seemed to indicate some regret about having given the game up when he did.

If Hird's body and mind are willing, could anyone say he was not capable of continuing to perform at an elite level, given an absence of nagging injury and his durability even in his 30s?

It would certainly continue what seems to have become an Essendon tradition of champions having a second tilt at it.

Tim Watson was one, retired in 1992, but returning the following year to play an important part in the club's 1993 premiership win. Paul Salmon, too, returned to Windy Hill in 2002 after six years away, five with Hawthorn and one as a retiree.

When Hird meets Knights, the still newish Bomber coach will be facing something of a dilemma.

The impressive debutant coach has made very clear his desire for a new era built on youth, turning over the kids while moving on such old stagers as Jason Johnson and Damien Peverill.

A Hird comeback would fly in the face of a clear philosophy and coaching direction. There's potential for embarrassment, memories such as Tony Lockett's short-lived return to Sydney a few years back not much of a case for the affirmative.

But such is Hird's value, Knights would have to at least seriously consider the idea.

The Essendon champ can play in so many roles, even as a pinch-hitter at his age, that he could be worth more over another season or two than a prospective young draftee.

Then there's his inestimable leadership qualities, which could be of even more worth still to what will become an even more inexperienced line-up as fellow veterans Dustin Fletcher and Scott Lucas come closer to the end.

When Hird sits down with Knights to discuss an idea even Hird himself could barely have dreamed about until recently, those will be key points of debate.

You could understand Knights' reluctance to be party to what would be an amazing comeback. But you could equally understand why he might think it well worth the gamble.

WHAT THE FUCK?

SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE'S PLAYING WITH YOU CONNO - IT WOULDN'T BE "SOLLY" WOULD IT - AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A JOURNO?

TOSSBAG!

Cheers,

CHRISTOS BOMBEROPOULOS