Hird achieved almost everything possible as a player in his 253-game, 343-goal, 17-year career at Essendon.
Generally in his trademark long-sleeved No. 5 jumper, Hird, with a characteristic lick of his fingertips as he anticipated the play ahead of him, was one of the most graceful players the game has seen, combining courage with class in extraordinary doses of each.
Having already been part of Essendon's 1993 premiership side as a 20-year-old, Hird won the Brownlow Medal in 1996, when he tied with Brisbane Lions (then the Brisbane Bears) star Michael Voss.
In 2000, he captained Essendon to its 16th premiership and won the Norm Smith Medal, a game he later described as being played ""in the zone"".
He was named club champion five times (the fifth coming in his final season as a 34-year-old), and an All-Australian five times (once as captain). He also led the club's goalkicking twice, and played in three pre-season premierships; only Essendon champion Dick Reynolds has captained more games for the Bombers than Hird. It's an impeccable record.
Now, having retired at the end of 2007, Hird is an inductee of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, the final high point of one of the most illustrious careers in modern football.
But still, the 38-year-old, now in his first season as Essendon's senior coach, says football's enjoyment came not in the end prize but the chase.
""The final siren of the 1993 and 2000 Grand Finals were great moments, but the greatest thrill was when you're in the middle of the MCG at the centre bounce,"" Hird told afl.com.au last week at Essendon's Windy Hill headquarters when discussing his impending Hall of Fame induction.
""The ball is on the ground, you've got to beat a player to get it, you pick it up, you get out of the contest and you kick it down the ground. In the end, that's still the moment in your life you miss the greatest.
""When you're in a competition against someone and you know you've got to fight,"" Hird said.
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There are few certainties in football, but Hird's induction to the Hall of Fame was one. He said he's proud to be included, and that it provided a sense of ""finality"" to his playing career.
""It's a great individual honour to be part of the Hall of Fame,"" he said, ""but I hope that my teammates, the people around me and the footy club get a sense of their achievement within this as well. I'm the product of so many people putting time into me and helping me out.""
""Hopefully everyone else sees it as much their award as mine. To be remembered in the company of the people in the Hall of Fame is very special,"" he said.
Growing up in Ainslie, Canberra, Hird had strong links to Essendon before the club drafted him with pick 79 in the 1990 AFL Draft.
His grandfather Allan Hird Sr played 102 games for the club in the 1940s, including the 1942 premiership, before becoming Essendon president from 1969-75 (the Allan Hird Sr stand at Windy Hill is named after him). James' father Allan also played four games for the club in 1966-67. Hird was born into football and born into Essendon.
""I was as passionate an Essendon supporter as anyone there was as a kid. It's not too strong a point to say that I lived and died for footy as a kid,"" Hird said.
However, Hird's success wasn't handed to him. Everything he achieved was the product of years of toil. He was a perfectionist and a professional who battled several career-threatening injuries. Each time, he came back a better player. Be it using an injury as motivation, or simply as perspective, Hird absorbed experiences, understood them, and was dedicated to getting better.
Having been Essendon's second-last selection in the 1990 draft, though, few had any expectations he could rise to the player he quickly became.
At his first training session as an Essendon player, Hird met teammate Gavin Wanganeen at Windy Hill before the pair was driven to the Tan running track in Melbourne. The first person he met after stepping out of the car was coach Kevin Sheedy, who asked Hird which player he was like.
""I wanted to say Terry Daniher or Tim Watson,"" Hird recalls, ""but I thought I'd be a little bit more modest and say Mark Thompson. 'Sheeds' said, 'Mark Thompson? Mark Thompson is my favourite player of all time. You're not as good as him!'""
In 1991, Hird played in Essendon's under-19s but was almost delisted at the end of the season. He got another chance – Hird says he was the 52nd player listed that season, on a list of 52 – and he knew something had to change.
He approached Essendon football manager Danny Corcoran (who Hird also helped bring back to the club as people and development manager in the club's football department when he took over as senior coach last year) and asked Corcoran to teach him how to train.
Throughout the next four seasons, Corcoran helped mould Hird into an elite footballer. He would go for early-morning runs with Hird, would make sure Hird didn't become complacent at training, and would talk Hird through how to handle games from a fitness perspective.
""He was almost like a second father,"" Hird says of Corcoran's influence.
Hird carried that lesson of professionalism through his whole career, but Corcoran was only one of Hird's mentors in that phase.
Denis Pagan, who coached Essendon's reserves premiership in 1992, taught Hird to ""never stop at anything less than perfection,"" and Mark Williams' efforts as an assistant coach across the 1995 and 1996 seasons helped take Hird to the elite level. However, it was Sheedy's unerring support and confidence which was most crucial.
""Sheeds really taught me how to be a positive person. He has a great football brain, but the most important thing I got out of Sheeds is that no matter what happens to you in your football life, you've got to turn it into a positive,"" Hird said.
In the 'Baby Bombers' side of 1993 – which included Mark Mercuri, Joe Misiti, Ricky Olarenshaw and David Calthorpe, all of whom had played in the 1992 reserves premiership – Hird became a premiership player in only his 20th senior game. His goal in the last quarter of Essendon's 44-point Grand Final victory over Carlton is one of the lasting images of the team's success.
Late in the term, Hird roved a long kick into the Bombers' forward line. With parted hair flowing, and his short-sleeved jumper tucked in to his high shorts, Hird kicked the ball off the ground, picked it up, and dribbled it through for his second goal of the day, before leaping in the air with euphoria, both arms raised.
But only weeks after that triumph, Hird set his mind to bigger things. Essendon's assistant coach at the time, David Wheadon, told Hird that though the 20-year-old had been a part of something special, his career was yet to truly unfold.
Hird had to decide whether he wanted to be remembered for his 20 games and his instant success, or whether he wanted more.
""I took that on board and the next three years were about getting fitter, learning about football, understanding how to play it, and trying to master your craft,"" Hird said.
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From 1994-96, Hird won three consecutive best and fairests and, in 68 games in this period, he kicked 113 goals, truly establishing himself as a star of the competition. Hird's marketability – his golden boy good looks and wide smile – combined with his performances made him the undisputed face of the club.
In 1998, after Gary O'Donnell retired, Hird became the official face of the club as captain.
But this period coincided with the hardest time in his career. The brilliant half-forward played only 22 games of a possible 69 from 1997-99, with hamstring, quad and a persistent problem in his navicular bone in his foot almost ending his career.
Having had his 1998 season cruelled by the broken bone, Hird returned in 1999 before again fracturing the navicular in round two against North Melbourne. The footage of a tearful Hird on the interchange bench is synonymous with his career and many thought his rise would be cut painfully short.
The 2000 season was Hird's last shot. Throughout 1999, as he watched his team fall agonisingly short of a Grand Final berth, losing to Carlton by one point, Hird worked closely with Essendon's new fitness coach at the time, John Quinn, who developed a program to help him rehabilitate. It was a program that needed constant revising, though, as Hird broke through each barrier, with Hird determined not to let his dodgy foot finish his career.
The hard work was vindicated. He returned in 2000 to play 20 games, finish second in the club's best and fairest to Dustin Fletcher, and captain his side to its 16th premiership.
In the Bombers' 60-point Grand Final win over Melbourne, Hird collected 29 possessions and kicked two goals. His grandfather called him the night before the game and told Hird to “make yourself a player.” He did. Three seasons ruined by injury had changed Hird's approach to football – and life – for the better.
""One of the things you try and do out of all the injuries is become a better player and the navicular was certainly a trying time for me,"" Hird said.
""Like any young kid you wanted to win Brownlows, you wanted to win best and fairests, you wanted to get as many kicks as possible.""
""(But) in '97, '98, '99, I learned to rely on other people and realise you couldn't do it all yourself. When I came back in the side in 2000, I'd gone from being the number one player at Essendon to three years later Mark Mercuri, Matthew Lloyd, Scott Lucas, Darren Bewick and all these players being in front of me and I just had to play a role,"" he said.
Hird was an uncomplicated footballer. Now, as a coach, he preaches to his players about football being a basic game of winning the ball and using it better than your opposition. This was truly the definition of Hird the player – he had the uncanny knack of winning hard balls, and then an even more uncanny knack of making the right decision with his disposal. He remains one of the great decision-makers of the modern era.
As a midfielder, he won his own possessions, saw options few others noticed, and was rarely caught. As a forward, his creativity was close to unmatched.
He could play anywhere on the ground, often floating to wherever his team needed him the most, and his balance kept him in the game more often than others. He kept his feet, and despite a somewhat wonky kicking style, used the inside, outside or middle of his right boot to pinpoint passes.
He was not the quickest, nor most naturally gifted player there was, but Hird's ability to assert himself on games and read the play ahead of others were his standout qualities. His bravery, too, perhaps defined him as the champion he became. He says this was instilled at an early age.
""I was brought up in a family where if you dropped a mark it was fine, or if you made a mistake it was fine, but you never take your eye off the ball. That was from my father and my grandfather,"" Hird said.
""If you took your eye off the ball it was a sign that you weren't prepared to commit. It almost ran through your life. If you're going to take your eye off the ball in your footy, then you're not as honest off the field as well.""
Sheedy reinforced that at Essendon, but Hird's commitment did waver in 2002, after an accidental knee from teammate Mark McVeigh fractured his face against Fremantle.
Hird spent several nights in hospital after the incident and underwent a three-hour surgery to repair the compound fracture, and at one stage told his family he would quit football.
He had a young family (he now has three sons, Thomas, Alexander and William, and daughter Stephanie) and was tired of the pain, but it was his wife, Tania, who convinced him it wasn't the right decision. Eight weeks later, in protective head gear, Hird was running with the flight of the ball in front of packs against the Western Bulldogs. ""She was very strong on confronting the pain and the demons,"" Hird said of his wife's support. ""That was fantastic.""
Hird's career continued to ascend. He made the All-Australian squad in 2003 as a 30-year-old, and in 2004 put together one of his most memorable performances in round three against West Coast. His hug of an Essendon supporter after kicking the match-winning goal from the boundary line has gone down in football folklore.
Even in his last game against West Coast in round 22 of 2007, which was also Sheedy's last game as coach of Essendon, Hird was close to best afield, picking up 34 possessions and kicking a classic snap goal from the forward pocket. According to Sheedy, it was the game which clinched Hird his fifth best and fairest.
""He probably would have been running second before that game but he got up to beat Dustin Fletcher,"" Sheedy said.
""He won his premiership in his 20th game and then won his fifth best and fairest in his last match and never played again. It was absolutely fantastic.”
""Football,"" Hird says, ""made me the person I am today.""
Essendon Football Club would also like to congratulate media pioneer Tony Charlton- a life member at Essendon- on his induction into the 2011 AFL Hall of Fame.
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