Bombers recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro said the signing of Hird, an “icon of the club” was a fantastic result for everyone at Essendon.
Dodoro, in Canberra for this week’s NAB AFL Draft Combine, could potentially be joined by the new coach later in the week as he tries to get a grasp of the young talent on offer in this year’s draft pool, however speaking with several out-of-contract Bombers is also on Hird’s list of priorities.
Brent Stanton, Leroy Jetta, David Myers, Bachar Houli and Alwyn Davey are among those yet to decide their futures for 2011 and beyond.
“It gives James an opportunity to talk to all those guys and he’ll do that over the next few days,” Dodoro said. “We’re confident that we’ll keep all those guys. There’s a great buzz around the club now.
“I had a quick chat with him [Hird] this morning. He’s done a lot of work on the list, so he’s aware of what he wants to achieve in the next couple of weeks with trade week starting next week.
“It’s great that he’ll be on board now so we can do some planning for trade week and he wants to get his head around these kids as soon as possible.”
Dodoro anticipates trade week, which runs from October 5 to 11, to be somewhat of an anti-climax, believing player movement won’t be drastic with most players tied to their clubs given the entry of the Gold Coast Suns to the AFL competition.
That will leave Hird, Dodoro and co to hone in on young talent in the national draft - where the Bombers are yet to identify an exact target.
“We don’t think that we have a major weakness in our midfield,” he said.
“Having said that, around our pick there will be a number of quality mids, but there will also be some quality talls as well.
“There’s a couple of ruckmen there and we’ve made no secret of the fact that we want to improve our midfield but we’re also looking at another ruckman as well.”
Dodoro said Hird would inherit an exciting young list, and he felt whoever joined Essendon next month would bring equal levels of enthusiasm.
“It’s amazing the response from the young kids that are here today, hearing the news that James Hird is going to coach Essendon,” he said.
“The buzz among the group has been amazing; it’s been phenomenal actually.”
