McVeigh: I want Hird back at the Bombers

Newly-minted Essendon senior coach Mark McVeigh says he will speak privately to Zach Merrett regarding his future at the club.

It has been widely suggested that the former Bombers captain will again seek a trade after his much-publicised attempt to get to Hawthorn fell over on deadline day last year.

McVeigh said he spoke to the six-time Crichton Medallist on his first day on the job on Tuesday, alongside the coaching staff, and says he plans to hold more private chats as the Bombers enter a new era.

The new Dons coach says he wants to ensure a champion of the club is respected, whichever way it goes.

“I’ll be honest, Zach and I will meet really quickly one-on-one in the next few days,” McVeigh said on SEN Breakfast.

“We actually met as a coaching group yesterday with him and it was more about his year and where he's at. It wasn't about his future.

“He would like to speak to me privately and I'll speak to him together and understand him. I'm big on making sure that your champions are respected. I'm absolutely massive on that.

“We've got to make sure we onboard people in our footy club really well. I think most clubs do it well, but do we exit them out? And I'm not saying that's Zach, but I want to be respectful in any player in that space. That we've got to make sure that they feel comfortable.

“And I need to know him. I don't know him as a person. He's obviously highly regarded. I want to know his thoughts and where he's at. I want him at the club.

“If I look at it and go, ok, how are we going to build the game plan I'm looking to implement, I want Zach to be a part of that. Now that doesn't necessarily mean he does, and I get that.

Garry Lyon asked: “If hypothetically, he says, ‘No, no, I'm out’, how hard do you try and push that?”

McVeigh replied: “Yeah, I think that's a work on with the rest of our list management team.

“That sort of sensitive stuff you've got to be respectful of. Again, I don't know what Zach's thinking. I don't know where he's at in regards to that.

“We will talk. We got along really well yesterday. He's a smart young man, and I think it'll just be an honest conversation, which is all you can ask, that it’s honest.”

McVeigh was up for the job against a few other prospective coaches including Dons legend James Hird.

There was a groundswell of support from some sections of Bombers supporters to have Hird back at the club as head coach.

Hird indicated that he would move on after missing out on the job, but McVeigh wants to hold a conversation with him to see if he’d consider taking up a role.

“I’ll be honest, it was tough. It was hard to go through that knowing how much he wanted the role and I respected that all the way through,” McVeigh said of Hird.

“We did talk, we speak a lot about football, life. So the dialogue between us was always positive. And whoever was to win out will always be supportive. So he's been great for me behind the scenes.

“James is someone that I value in terms of not only as a person, but his footy knowledge. He’s a person that can manage up, he can manage down, he builds relationships and he's a winner. He wants to win and we need people in our environment that want to be that.

“Ultimately, James will decide where his next future is with his football. He's dipped his toe back into VFL level. He certainly can be at AFL level.

“I want to have that conversation with him. I’ll give him a little bit of space there around this as well to make sure that he's got to get over the disappointment.

“But ultimately I'd like him to come back in some capacity.”

Lyon wanted to know if the presence of Hird - a powerful Essendon figure - would somewhat undermine McVeigh’s position.

Lyon asked: “So he covets the role aggressively, massive personality with massive supporter base. If he was to come back and be an assistant coach, do you not see that there's a potential to have this really powerful figure sitting over your shoulder? Is that something that you'd be comfortable with?”

McVeigh replied: “I think I need to embrace what that is. I can't hide from what that is. I'm never going to be able to change that narrative.

“I only see it as a positive for me. Now he might turn around and say, ‘I want to give you clear air and I'm going to go to another club and fight my way back’. And that will be fine, I’ll support him.

“But I need to have the conversation with him and see where that conversation goes.

“I’m confident enough in our relationship that he’ll be very supportive.”

McVeigh also plans to sit down with Elijah Tsatas who now comes out of contract.

The former No.5 draft pick has struggled to hold down a spot in the senior side and McVeigh wants to know why that is the case.

“It’s one of those things that I don't know the young man and I need to get to know him,” McVeigh said of the 21-year-old.

“So I'll sit down with him today and go, ‘Where has it perhaps gone wrong for you? What do you feel? What have you lacked? What have you been craving that you haven't got?’.

“I said yesterday that I'm not coming in making these rash decisions, I don't want to be that person because I want to be respectful of the person, the player and their families.

“So I need to hear them. I don't need to make a judgement call before I arrive into a meeting. I don't need to listen to other people, respectfully, to give me their ideas and then I devise this plan in my head about who they are.

“I need to understand who they are firstly, what perhaps has held them back, where they think their strengths are and what they need to improve. And I'll get all that today and that might be a half an hour meeting, it might be a standard 15 minutes.

“So that's the challenge of it all.”

The man affectionately known as ‘Spike’ spoke to the playing group briefly about the culture he pans to implement at The Hangar.

He gave them a sneak peek of what to expect in his first pre-season at the helm.

“It started yesterday. I was able to meet with all of the players for 10 minutes which was really great,” he said further.

“All players which was awesome. Even Archie Roberts, who just come out of surgery, turned up in a sling which was amazing.

“I was able to talk briefly about how we need to behave in our break and also about what the requirements are when you tun back up to training in November.

“One of the things I’m really big on, and I’ve seen over many years, is you can’t waste a pre-season. You just cannot. You fall back really quickly.

“They are under no illusions about having a break and getting away, which is important, but you must turn up in preparation to be able to train at a high level.

“That doesn’t mean you’re turning up like you would in January. You’re turning up healthy, with no issues that you can avoid and ready to go.

“I outlined where the pre-season was going to go. It’s going to be a little bit different. We’re going to train in a different way and they’re certainly aware of the requirements that need too happen.”

Listen to the full chat with McVeigh below: