Riggsy: Solly’s Silence Speaks Volumes at Windy Hill

There is a particular flavour of chaos that only Essendon can produce — not violent, not malicious, just gloriously, reliably awkward — and the current coaching saga has all the hallmarks. Dean Solomon is sitting in the big chair, doing a decent enough job of it, and he’s reportedly expecting a tap on the shoulder to confirm whether the club wants him there permanently. Meanwhile James Hird, a man who does not lack confidence or profile, has made no secret of the fact that he would fancy a crack at the role himself.

Welcome back to being an Essendon supporter, everyone. Grab a seat. We’ve done this before.

The Interim Tag Has Never Felt Heavier

Solomon stepped into the interim role after Bradley Scott’s departure and, genuinely, he has handled it with a quiet kind of dignity. He’s not screaming from the rooftops, he’s not leaking to journalists, he’s not calling press conferences to announce his ambitions. He’s coaching the footy club. And from what we’ve seen on the park, the players are responding to him.

But that word — interim — sits like a stone in a boot. Every press conference, every post-match, every selection, it hangs over the whole operation. The players know it. The footy department knows it. Every recruiter weighing up whether to come to Tullamarine knows it. An unresolved coaching question is a slow leak in the tyre of a football club, and the longer you leave it the flatter things get.

So Solly waiting for a tap on the shoulder is entirely understandable on a human level. He’s a proud man, he’s been around the club for years, and you don’t put your hand up and get knocked back if you can possibly avoid it. But from the outside — from the Essendon supporter desperately trying to believe this decade is going to be different — the uncertainty stings a little.

And Then There’s Jimmy Hird

Here’s where it gets genuinely complicated, and I say that as someone who has carried a Hird number seven guernsey in conditions of both triumph and absolute despair. James Hird is, unambiguously, one of the great Essendon figures of any era. On the field he was extraordinary. Brownlow medallist, premiership player, a footballer who made everything look effortless even when it clearly wasn’t.

Off the field — well, if you’ve followed Essendon for the last fifteen years you don’t need me to summarise it. We all know the chapters. Some of us have read them more times than we’d like.

What’s interesting now is that Hird has made his interest relatively public. He hasn’t been coy about it. Whether that’s a strength — confidence, self-belief, the kind of front-foot energy you want in a senior coach — or whether it’s complicated by baggage that the football club has to weigh up, is genuinely a question I don’t think anyone outside the Essendon boardroom can answer definitively right now. And possibly some people inside the boardroom can’t either.

What I will say is this: in my experience as an Essendon fan, the answer to any question involving James Hird is almost never simple.

What the Bombers Actually Need Right Now

Strip away the names, the history, the noise, and ask yourself what Essendon actually needs in a senior coach heading into the next phase of this rebuild. Because this is a rebuild — we can dress it up however we like but there are still significant pieces to be found.

They need someone who can develop young players. The likes of Nate Caddy, Lachie Gollant, the younger kids coming through — they need a coach who will commit to them through the ugly weeks, not just play them when it’s convenient. They need someone who the football department will back in the trade and free agency markets, which means the appointment has to carry genuine authority. And they need stability, above all else. Essendon and stability have had a strained relationship for about a decade and a half, and the supporters deserve a period where the coaching box isn’t the main story.

Whether that’s Solomon, Hird, or someone else entirely — an external appointment the board haven’t publicly flagged yet — is something the club has to get right. Not fast. Right.

The Process Has to Be Cleaner Than the Product

One of my concerns — and I’ll frame this clearly as opinion, not accusation — is that Essendon has historically been susceptible to making big decisions with more emotion than rigour. Given everything the club has been through, the board owes it to the supporters, and frankly to the candidates, to run a proper, transparent process here.

That means interviews. Criteria. Clear communication with Solomon about where he stands. If he’s in the running, tell him. If there are other candidates being considered, manage that professionally. The tap on the shoulder culture is fine in theory, lovely in a footy-romantic sense, but not when you’ve got an interim coach publicly wondering if he’s in the frame and a high-profile former player making his interest known through the media. That’s not a process. That’s a situation, and situations have a way of escalting on you if you’re not careful.

This is a club that knows better than most what happens when governance and communication break down. So let’s see them apply the lessons.

Solly Deserves a Fair Go Either Way

Whatever the board decides, and I mean this sincerely, Dean Solomon deserves to be treated with respect through the process. He put his hand up when the job needed filling. He’s worked the rooms, calmed the players, kept the thing moving. If the board decides to go external, or to give the role to Hird, or to anyone else — he should hear it directly, clearly, and with gratitude for what he’s contributed. Not through a news feed. Not through a leak to a journalist. Directly.

Essendon has tested the loyalty of a lot of good people over the years. Don’t add Solomon’s name to that list unnecessarily.

As an Essendon Supporter, I’ll Say This

I’ve watched this footy club be a saga for so long I’ve basically become accidential academic in Essendon Studies. I know the MRO grading system, I know the Tribunal appeal process, I know what a show cause notice looks like. None of that was planned. It just happened by being a Bombers fan long enough.

What I want — what we all want — is a footy club that’s known for what happens between the white lines on a Saturday afternoon. The coaching appointment is the first big step toward that. Get it right, be transparent, back your decision fully, and let the footy do the talking.

Solomon, Hird, someone else — I honestly don’t know who the right answer is. But I know a good process makes the right answer easier to find. And around Essendon, that’s already half the battle.