Matthew Lloyd has denied he was part of a covert push to bring James Hird back as Essendon coach, saying he was wrongly dragged into the saga and had already texted Kane Cornes to say he was unhappy with the claim. Lloyd made the denial on Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night after Cornes and Tom Morris had named him as part of the network around the bid.
The timing matters because Essendon’s coaching discussion has again spilled into public view just as clubs around the league are working through their own succession plans, including the Carlton search that has already drawn Adam Simpson into the frame. In this case, Lloyd was not discussing a distant football memory. He was answering directly to an allegation that he was part of a political effort to steer Essendon toward Hird.
“I don’t how I got dragged into that at all,” Lloyd said, adding that he had texted Cornes on Monday to let him know he was not happy with the claim. He also said, “I’ve never met Paul Little in my life,” and pushed back hard on any suggestion that he had been working behind the scenes to reinstall Hird.
That denial cut against the picture painted by Cornes and Morris, who had named Lloyd as a central ally of Hird in discussions about the vacant Essendon coaching position. Cornes said he had read that Paul Little’s push for Hird was back on, while Morris said, “The team behind him? Well, Paul Little is very much part of it. There’s other people around the outskirts – well, Matthew Lloyd.” Cornes also alleged there had been “secret coffees going on left, right and centre,” a charge Lloyd met with a blunt response: “I’ve never [even] had a drink of coffee in my life. I don’t drink coffee.”
What makes the exchange harder for Essendon to contain is that the alleged campaign has already been linked to serious discussions last March, when The Age reported that the plan to reinstall Hird gained momentum after a phone message from former chairman Paul Little to David Barham. Club figures described it as a redemption campaign, and Hird later confirmed his strong interest in the vacant job. Lloyd, though, said his own position was simple. “You know what, the most tiring thing I’ve done in my media is talk about Essendon’s failings, year after year, time after time,” he said. “I want the best coach, and I don’t care who it is.”
For now, the only clear result is that Lloyd has forcefully rejected any role in the push, and the wider question remains whether the names being traded on air ever matched the reality inside the club. That is the gap Essendon has not closed, and it is the one that will keep this story alive.
