James Hird
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James Hird (born February 4, 1973) is currently the captain of the Essendon Football Club. A versatile player who can play in a key forward position, a midfielder or as a sweeper in defense, he is widely admired as one of the most fearless and best modern players in the game of Australian Rules Football.
The Hird family has a long history at Essendon, with James' father, Allan, playing with the side in the 1960s, and his grandfather, also Allan, a distinguished player with Hawthorn, Essendon and St Kilda.
James Hird was recruited from the Ainslie football club in Canberra, in the 1990 AFL draft. Due to injury problems in his junior football career, he was not selected until pick number 79, one of the last in the draft.
James Hird made his debut in 1992, but it was in the 1993 season he first began to make his mark on the game. In that season he was a member of what was referred to as the "Baby Bombers", a group of young players (most notably including Hird, Mark Mercuri and Joe Misiti) that played a key role in the side winning the premiership that year.
In 1994, Hird won the first of three consecutive best and fairests, culminating in his 1996 season, where he was jointly award the Brownlow Medal for the League's fairest and best player.
A serious of injuries restricted Hird's appearances during the remainder of the 90s. He could manage only seven games in 1997, and although he was named captain in 1998 (a position he still holds), he was restricted to thirteen games that year. An even worse year followed in 1999, when stress fractures in his foot kept him to only two games.
2000 was a much better year for Hird. Injury free, he won a number of honours, including selection and captancy of the All Australian Team, and the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the grand final. The Essendon team also won the Ansett Cup pre-season competition, and the regular season premeirship. The team only lost one game for the entire season, making it the most successful year for any team in the history of the competition.
Unfortunately, injuries have again plagued Hird since then, the worst being a horrific facial injury during the 2002 season, when he collided with teammate Mark McVeigh's knee. Hird was in hospital for a week and missed several months of the season.
In 2003, despite again missing eight games through various injuries, Hird tied in the Essendon best and fairest with Scott Lucas. He also narrowly missed out on a second Brownlow Medal, finishing only 3 votes behind the winners.
Further emphasising Hird's status as one of the game's great players, in 2002 the Essendon Football Club named him as number three on their list of the clubs 25 best ever players.
External links
- Player page for James Hird (http://essendonfc.com.au/team/player.asp?id=19) at the official Essendon Football Club (http://essendonfc.com.au/) web site.