THE AFL will not pursue James Hird for breaching a non-disparagement agreement, despite his comments about some 'ordinary individuals' within the football industry.  
 
Essendon made an agreement with the AFL, in the wake of the supplements scandal, that included a clause preventing the club and the coach to publicly criticise the AFL.

But AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday he was 'not worried in the slightest' about Hird's comments.
 
"I'm not going to buy into it. We need Essendon to be strong and playing well and winning games," McLachlan told Melbourne radio station 3AW.  
 
"Our focus is making sure that all those players are OK through this process, that's our focus.
 
"I don't know there's any upside in buying into all of that."   
 
Hird said in a radio interview last Sunday: "Certainly there's some people within the AFL industry I've got no time for, I think are ordinary individuals and don't speak the truth and have agendas and drive them really hard for their own agendas."
 
Hird was banned from coaching for 12-months after an AFL and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation and part of his penalty included a 'no disparagement of the AFL or AFL executives on or off the record' clause.
 
Asked directly if Hird's comments had breached the agreement, McLachlan responded: "Probably, but I don't think we're going to go rushing to look at the agreement too hard.
 
"I'm not worried in the slightest," he said.  
 
It's been another dramatic week for Hird, after he came off his bike while riding home from training.
 
He will coach Essendon Friday night despite being hospitalised with serious concussion.
 
Essendon plays North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.