Hird,49,is weighing up whether to be involved in the interviewing process. He had been an assistant coach with Greater Western Sydney this season,having been welcomed back into the industry by league chief Gillon McLachlan.
“He is a highly intelligent individual,he is highly educated,grasps things in a heartbeat but can actually deliver on the field,” Corcoran,who was suspended for six months (two suspended) for his role in the drugs scandal,said.
“If he wants to coach,I have no desire to re-enter full-time football,but I would assist him and help him in any way I could. It[the supplements saga] would be a talking point,initially it would,but he has paid his dues.”
Hird,the 2000 premiership skipper,had 41 wins in his 85 games in charge. He replaced Matthew Knights ahead of the 2011 season.
Hird’s son Tom was picked up by the Bombers in 2020 as a category B rookie but was delisted on Tuesday,alongside Tom Cutler and Garrett McDonagh,without having played a game for the Bombers at AFL level.
The senior Hird,loved by many at the club,would help deal with the coterie groups,which can agitate and wield power because of the financial backing they provide.
Essendon great and board director Kevin Sheedy,Hird’s long-time former coach,is among those at the club keen for Hird to be in the running,but others have doubts.
Former skipper Matthew Lloyd said Hird’s baggage meant he should not be in the running. Jobe Watson,captain when Hird was coaching,has urged caution,but Tim Watson,the club great,was happy for Hird to go through the process.
Tim Watson,however,said on Tuesday that the Bombers needed to make it clear the search for a new coach was not a Hird “boat race”,leaving other applicants – potentially including Ross Lyon and Leon Cameron – wondering if they were seriously in the hunt.
“I think the club needs to make that very clear.[President] David Barham needs to make a statement around that,that they will be holding a process and that there will be transparency involved in that which is clear for everybody to see,” Watson said on SEN.
“They need to set that up as quickly as they possibly can.”
Watson,who helped establish the pairing of Hird and Mark Thompson in 2011,revealed he had been the link between the Bombers and their chat last week with Clarkson,the four-time premiership coach.
Barham’s late bid for Clarkson failed,and the Bombers sacked coach Ben Rutten on Sunday. Barham has spent recent days tempering emotions at the club.