Hird weighs in as battling Bombers confront rough start

Former Essendon coach and club great James Hird says he can't see what the Bombers are trying to do on the field in their dismal start to the AFL season.

Sunday's humiliating 63-point loss to Port Adelaide plunged Essendon to a 0-2 start and into the spotlight.

On Tuesday morning, senior Bomber Kyle Langford said Essendon buckle under pressure, their defence isn't up to AFL standard and it's on the players, not coach Brad Scott, to fix it.

Hird delivered his own scathing assessment, comparing Essendon's lack of execution to the clear styles of Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.

"If you look at what they stand for as a team, you're really searching for it," Hird told 3AW.

"I can understand his frustration, Brad. You send your team out there with a game plan ? and you expect them to do it, and they don't execute.

"From the coaches' box, it's very hard to rectify that during the game.

"... You look at Essendon and you can't see what they're trying to do, and I think that's the frustrating thing for the Essendon fans."

When asked how many calls and messages he had received after the dismal loss, Hird, who Kevin Sheedy has previously championed to return to the hot seat, said: "The Essendon natives are pretty restless, put it that way".

Sunday's loss prompted Scott to lash his "demoralised" team for not being hard-nosed enough in defence.

After conceding 157 marks to Hawthorn, Essendon, who lost their final 13 games of 2025, gave up 165 marks to the Power.

"As a team, we need to be better. Our team defence isn't up to an AFL standard and we've seen that - I think we've conceded over 300 marks over the last two weeks," Langford said.

"So it's not individuals ... it's all of us."

Langford was adamant work rate and selfishness weren't the issues, instead believing Essendon struggled to execute.

"I don't think it's selfishness - that's a pretty strong word - but I think we do have a group that when the pressure's on us, we might buckle a little bit and I think we've seen that," Langford said.

"We probably go away from what we want to do in offence and defence and it's human nature - fight or survive. And we're probably in that survival instinct right now.

"So as this week progresses, we're gonna fight. We've got North Melbourne Saturday night. It's round two. There's a lot of footy to be played."

Langford said 2026, his 12th year at Essendon, was the best he'd felt about the group's direction, praising Scott for changing the culture while insisting the coach's messaging was clear.

"He's done everything he can, now it's on to us players," he added.

Skipper Andrew McGrath called a players-only meeting after Sunday's loss, which Langford said was about "taking ownership".

Former Zach Merrett, who stepped down in November after his failed bid to join Hawthornjoined Tuesday's leadership group's meeting.

"He's right in it amongst us. He's not shying away from everything. He knows he needs to improve as well in certain areas, as we all do. But no, he's right amongst it with us," Langford said.

"He's not back in it (the leadership group) but he's a leader of this group, he's been a captain of this football club.

"... Zach's got so much experience. He's our most experienced, our eldest player.

"His insights would be lost if we didn't include him in a lot of these chats."