ESSENDON has announced James Hird as its senior coach for the next four years, with the premiership captain declaring he is ready for his biggest challenge in football so far.
Club chairman David Evans said Hird was appointed at an early board meeting on Tuesday morning after recommendations from the panel selected to find Matthew Knights' successor.
The 37-year-old's achievements include the 1996 Brownlow Medal, All-Australian selection on five occasions, five best and fairest awards and two flags.
Hird, who played 253 matches from 1992 to 2007 and was captain for eight seasons, also won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield in the 2000 grand final.
"I feel very proud and privileged to have been named coach of the Essendon Football Club," he said at a media conference.
"This club is the only club I've thought about coaching and for me, the club has been my life and the passion I've got for it makes the decision easy.
"Why do I want to coach? Because this is the greatest football club in the world and football has been in my blood since I was four or five years old.
"It's a passion and I want to be part of this journey. There is no better time to come to the Essendon Football Club than right now.
"We're going to build it and I want to be part of that. The opportunity to be part of it was too hard to pass up."
Evans said Hird had met three major criteria with his football knowledge, his presentation and plan for the Bombers' developing list, and his proven leadership skills.
The club also denied the move was a marketing strategy on the back on Knights' untidy departure.
Hird acknowledged the challenges that awaited him and said his first objective would be to strengthen the club.
"This club rightly or wrongly hasn't been united. I congratulated David a year ago when he was brought on as president, and [CEO] Ian Robson almost 12 months ago when he was brought on board," he said.
"The journey has just started and I'm very excited to be on it because we are going to build the best football club in the AFL again."
Hird said the club's young list had potential, and outlined his recruiting strategy with a focus on youth and midfielders.
He added that Essendon could be involved in trade week.
"There's weaknesses in the list and I don't think it's played to its potential," he said.
"I think 2009 was a good year, the back half of [this] year was disappointing but there were injuries.
"I want to come in and teach and develop. How long that takes, I'm not going to put a timeframe on it.
"The one thing you will see will be improvement every year from now."
He said he had strong views on how he wanted the side to play, with the defensive nature of Saturday's drawn grand final and the fitness required for such a style his first focus.
Hird will become a non-executive director at Gemba, the sports marketing company he part owns and which initially hindered his interest in the role.
He will start in his new role immediately, coinciding with this week's NAB AFL Draft Combine and next week's official exchange period.
