""He wasn’t a standout but he did show tremendous courage. Even in practice matches involving the senior players he would throw himself in,"" Alessio said.
But Hird began to develop apace, and by 1991 was already showing signs of being an extremely talented player. In 1992 he was picked in the senior side for the opening-round match against St Kilda at Waverley. He kicked one goal but was dropped, then returned to play the final three games of the season.
Season 1993 arrived and again Hird was in the senior side. He was one of a host of young Bombers given ample opportunity by Kevin Sheedy that season. Playing across the half-forward line, Hird showed signs of his class with a six-goal haul against Sydney in round 4.
He ended up with 31 goals from 12 games that season and played a key role in Essendon’s magnificent Premiership win over Carlton. The stage had been set for a brilliant career.
A year later, Hird was an emerging superstar. The club had a disappointing season after injuries took their toll on the side, and it wound up in 10th place. But that was no fault of Hird’s, who played wonderfully consistent football through all but two games to win his first Crichton Medal. Even then, people were talking of him as a future captain.
Hird followed up in 1995, again collecting the best and fairest award, and by 1996 he was among the competition’s elite players. He was dominating matches in a way few players are capable of, and shared that year’s Brownlow Medal with Michael Voss.
""After that season I rated him the equal of Tim Watson as the best player I have ever played with,"" teammate Mark Harvey said. ""He could just do everything. Opposition sides would rotate players on him but he just kept beating them, whether it was at ground level or in the air. He was a real leader and that was obvious even in 1993 when he was just a kid. He took it upon himself to win games – we knew then we had something special.""
Gary O’Donnell, who preceded Hird as skipper, agreed. ""When he’s near the ball, he is generally going to get it,"" he said. ""He’s one of only a handful of blokes in League footy who, when there's 12 blokes at a stoppage for example, if he really wants to get it, he’ll get it. I don’t know if it is a sixth sense, a quicker reaction than everybody else, an innate ability to read the play – I’m not sure, but all those rolled into one allows him to get it. He’s obviously good in the air, good at ground level, a good finisher. He’s been, in the modern era, close to Essendon’s best player.
He’s pretty much complete,"" O’Donnell continued. ""He’s hard at the ball and he’s courageous too, and that does rub off on the rest of the side. When they’re battling and the players need to pull something out of the fire, to change things, that kind of thing rubs off on your players. And he’s got a great approach to footy as well. He works pretty hard. He's one of those players that have got built into them that they’re going to do everything possible to be a success on the footy field.
Tomorrow in Part 3 of Hird’s 200th special, we look at the debilitating injuries Hird has sustained and the record breaking 2000 season.
