James Hird has become a legend of Essendon already. This man has been a match-winner on so many occasions it would be ludicrous to try to list them, and has placed him as arguably the league's most valuable player. Playing mainly off centre-half forward, his vision has set up many of Essendon's attacks on goal.
His versatility is second to none. Whenever you see an opposition forward having a good day, more than likely Sheedy will put Hird on him and you won't see that player for the rest of the game. Not only that - you'll see Hird running off the backline to continue to set up attacks for the Bombers. Hird won the best and fairest for the third consecutive year in 1996, a truly remarkable feat. He coupled that with football's highest individual honour - the Brownlow Medal. He was named co-vice-captain in 1996 with Michael Long.
In 1998 he was appointed captain but problems with his hamstring held him to 13 games. Hird's bad run with injuries continued into 1999 when stress fractures of his right foot allowed him to play only two games for the season. His leadership was unquestioned as he never missed a training session and was around continually to help his teammates.His welcome return in 2000 was in the third game of the Ansett Cup in which he kicked two goals in a winning match against Melbourne.
A stunning year in 2000 - saw Hird win the Norm Smith medal, All-Australian selection, Ansett Cup premiership, Captaincy of the Australian team to compete in the post-season series against Ireland and captain of the premiership side. This was topped off with runner-up to Dustin Fletcher in the Crichton medal. In 2001 Hird led the side to back-to-back grand finals, however the team was defeated on the last Saturday in September by the Brisbane Lions.
Hird suffered a major set-back in Round 6 of the 2002 season against Fremantle when after colliding with teammate Mark McVeigh fractured multiple fractures in his skull. Remarkably Hird returned to the training track 17-days after the incident and should return to the side in the coming weeks. Essendon supporters are eagerly awaiting the return of the dual premiership player because his presence on the ground alone seems to lift his teammates to another level.
