In his 199 AFL games James Hird has received numerous accolades. He has won close to every award possible in the AFL – a Brownlow medal (1996), a Norm-Smith Medal, two premiership medals (1993 and 2000), All Australian honours (1995, 1996, 2000, 2003), four best and fairest awards (1994, 1995, 1996 and 2003) and has captained Essendon since 1998.

One of his most recent honours was being named third in the Champions of Essendon in 2002. The following three-part story tracking Hird’s brilliant career at Essendon is taken from the book – Champions of Essendon.

Football isn’t James Hird’s chosen sport – it is his art. To watch him play is to see an exhibition of everything that makes Australian Rules Football great. The football field is his canvas, and the result is so often a masterpiece.

James Hird has a talent and feel for the game reserved for a select few. It comes naturally to him. He can play anywhere and do it magnificently. He mops up in the back half like a seasoned defender and kicks the big goals when he goes forward. In the midfield his creativity is second to none. He reads the play superbly, gets his hands on the football and suddenly the Bombers are on the burst.

He might thread a handball through traffic, put his body on the line or get a deft tough that releases a teammate. And the game never hurries him. Hird has that uncanny ability to create time and space where there appears neither. He is all class.

Hird is also an outstanding leader, and is given close to free rein by the Essendon coaching staff. He will go wherever he thinks he can best serve his side. Usually starting across half-forward, Hird will move into the middle if the opposition has a run-on – and the rot will stop immediately. He also senses when opposition sides are under enormous pressure. Once again Hird will wander into the centre square, moving in for the kill. The game can be over in a matter of minutes.

Canberra, where a young James Hird grew up, is a long way from Melbourne and the heartland of AFL football. But Hird’s father and grandfather both played with the Bombers, so Australian Football was in his blood. Destiny demanded that Windy Hill would one day be home. And Hird, who played football for Ainslie in the local league, was determined to fulfill that destiny.

""Everyone says it is a dream to play League footy and that it’s all they ever wanted,"" he said in 1996, ""but I think a lot of people just say that and have a lot of other priorities in their lives. But for me, in my early days in Melbourne and Canberra it was all I ever thought about. To play League football was all I ever wanted, and it gave me a real purpose in my life.""

Essendon recruiting manager Noel Judkins ventured to Canberra to watch young Hird play. ""He was playing on the half-forward flank,"" Judkins recalled. ""I wasn’t blown away but there was something there. He had terrific ball skills and was great above his head, and he also knew where to run and how to get the ball. He’d had some hip problems so he was only playing in the Ainslie seconds and the standard wasn’t that good.""

Hird played with the ACT in the Teal Cup in 1989, but was injured in the first game and missed most of the carnival. He also missed the following year’s carnival. In 1990 a new rule allowed the Sydney Swans priority access to two young players from the ACT region. The Swans were interested in three players – Ben Aulich, Robert Neill and Hird – and rang Essendon to see if they were keen on Hird. Having been told they were, because of the family connection, the Swans seemed satisfied that James would get a go, and picked up the other two youngsters (Neill played 44 games, Aulich none).

""I then spoke to James’s father,"" said Judkins, ""who told me no other clubs had shown any interest. We went to the draft pretty confident we would get him so we left it late."" In fact, the Bombers left it very late. Essendon opted to pick up Todd Ridley, Richard Ambrose, John Fidge, Glen Hoffman, Jarrod Carter and Stephen Fry with their first six selections of the 1990 National Draft. Essendon’s seventh selection was pick number 79 overall.

James Hird was still up for grabs and the Bombers grabbed him. It is incredible to think now that other clubs had 72 chances to select Hird. Yet, to be fair, Essendon didn’t rush at him either. Call it luck, call it destiny, call it anything you like – the club had just picked itself a champion.

Tomorrow in Part 2 of Hird’s 200th special, we explore James Hird’s journey at Windy Hill.