Essendon legend James Hird can see change for the better on the horizon. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
JAMES Hird has been around long enough to know the heat is coming.
The baying media and commentariat will start up early, as they do when a side plummets from 8-1 to lose its last seven games of the year.
The boundary-side and armchair medicos will be at it, too, from the instant a player wearing red and black grabs for that first hamstring.
But if third-year coach Hird feels the pressure, it is not from the usual sources.
That pressure comes from a period that now stretches to eight years - September 4, 2004, to be exact. It was Essendon's last winning final, an elimination final against Melbourne in a team containing Justin Murphy, Damien Cupido and Matthew Allan.
And for Hird, the gap between then and now seems like an eternity.
"This is a big year for all of us," Hird concedes.
"I feel the pressure to succeed. We all live and breathe Essendon and I have my whole life. Almost everyone here is an Essendon person and we want to get our club back up.
"I think for our supporters, it's really important we have a big year.
"We haven't had a lot of success since 2004. That was the last time we won a final. So I feel that sort of pressure. It's internal, and I want for our supporters for us to do well. Any other sort of pressure doesn't worry me too much."
Two years into Hird's unlikely campaign as the saviour of Essendon, it is difficult to read his side's progress.
A first year full of unexpected wins and constant improvement ended in a crushing 62-point finals loss to arch-rival Carlton.
This year, the scintillating start - Essendon was 8-1, then 10-3 and 11-4 - ended in crushing disappointment as the injury toll ravaged the club's hopes.
Soon the external blame game started, with fitness staffer Dean Robinson becoming the scapegoat.
Hird makes a valid point about the two contrasting seasons which has so far gone unnoticed.
"It is interesting. We won the same amount of games in 2012 that we did in 2011. But we didn't improve, and it's really important to keep improving."
Three months on, Essendon has reloaded for the 2013 season, and with a fair arsenal.
The soft-tissue crisis has been analysed and Robinson retained, but with former Athletics Australia boss Danny Corcoran taking responsibility for the football department.
St Kilda star Brendon Goddard has been lured under free agency, veterans David Hille and Dustin Fletcher have been retained, and key position prodigy Joe Daniher arrives with massive expectations as the best TAC Cup talent in a decade.
James Hird keeps an eye on his players as they begin pre-season training. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
None of it matters if the Dons don't stay fit, but after training stints in Colorado and on the Gold Coast, the signs are already promising.
"We have got a pretty healthy list at the moment, which is unusual for us over the last couple of years," Hird says with a laugh.
"We are going well on the injury front and the guys are getting some good quality work in. It is no secret that if you get a good pre-season you get a good head start.
"I can guarantee you we will have a soft-tissue injury next year. It's how many, when they happen, how they happen. Is it a mistake, or is it's just what happened? We will get them, but we are focusing on getting our players fit and healthy and structurally sound, rather than worry about getting constant flak for soft-tissue injuries."
The Dons conducted their own post-season inquiry into the injuries and will filter those results into their pre-season program.
One issue raised was the amount of weight many players carried as the club sought to build the big, strong, competitive animals Hird and assistant Mark Thompson desired.
It saw players like Cale Hooker, Jake Melksham and Travis Colyer battling to cover ground, and contributing mediocre seasons, but Hird says it is not that simple.
"I think it's a number of factors," he says.
"The biggest one is that you have to get your players to a point structurally where they can handle the workload you give them. It takes a number of years.
"It's not a one-year effort. You need to build them up and get them used to it.
There are two ways of doing it. You have to put the work into them and cross your fingers. Or if you don't have the work into them they are going to break down anyway. But we still have a young list and we are trying to make sure they can sustain a full year of football.
The pity is that almost all of Essendon's gains last year have been overshadowed by the injuries and seven-match losing streak.
When this side is at its best, it plays tough, hard football capable of winning multiple finals.
The list is brimming with talent, key position stars, and according to Hird, finally has a midfield core capable of taking it up to the best sides.
Goddard and Jobe Watson are elite, David Zaharakis and Dyson Heppell are on their way there with a bullet, and there are a raft of drafted midfielders we are yet to see.
Not since the dominant years of 1999-2001 has Essendon's midfield been so strong.
Daniher's potential is obvious, with Jake Carlisle, Patty Ryder, Dustin Fletcher, Kyle Hardingham, David Hille, Tom Bellchambers and Stewart Crameri capable of consistent, reliable football.
The question mark is on the health and wellbeing of a wildly talented quartet: Tayte Pears, Cale Hooker, Scott Gumbleton and Michael Hurley.
Hird sees excellent signs in all four over the early weeks of the pre-season.
Pears shaped as the league's best centre half-back before internal injuries and a navicular fracture cut him down in his tracks from the halfway mark of 2010.
James Hird talks with veteran Nathan Lovett-Murray, who has just signed on for another season. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
Says Hird of Pears: "From Tayte's point of view, this is the first time in his whole career he is running before Christmas. His foot is not coming up sore. I don't think anyone outside our footy club understands how hard Tayte has had to do it. He had a terrific year in 2009, 2010 half-way through the year he got injured and he wouldn't have strung together two training sessions until now."
Scott Gumbleton was nearly on his way to the Western Bulldogs but, in a sign of loyalty, stayed despite no guarantee of games next year.
"The sell to Scotty was that we believed he can play," Hird says.
He just needs that consistency of training again. If he gets that he will be a very good player of the competition. But there is no player in the competition who can play well if they don't train. He hasn't missed a session in the pre-season.
"At the moment it's looking good for him."
Hooker, so dependable on the last line with his closing speed in recent years, had a stinker in 2012 and was within hours of being traded to West Coast.
He stayed, and Hird says he is up and running, but with Essendon's wealth of talls, there is critical selection pressure.
"Cale had a hamstring issue last year, and he's fit. Hopefully, we have a big issue trying to fit those guys into the team. The good thing is we have strength in that area. There will be a number of players - Tayte and Hooksy and Carlisle - who will be playing for two spots.
"There is competition."
Michael Hurley should be this club's franchise player, but needs continuity.
The club sent him to the US for the altitude camp despite a wrist reconstruction, with the 22-year-old determined to build a massive pre-season fitness base.
Several weeks back, Hird said he planned to use him off half-back, but clearly he will play at both ends again.
He kicked 26 goals from 16 games this year, but 11 of them came in two games against Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs.
As Essendon foundered this season, the whispering campaign began in earnest.
Does he kick enough goals? Is his physique as "cut" as it should be for an elite athlete?
Hird is fiercely defensive of Hurley's progress.
"Michael is very self-driven," he says.
"Unfortunately, so far he's had big injuries - a stress fracture in his foot, a lot of soft-tissue issues last year.
"He has had to have his wrist reconstructed but so far this pre-season he's been training every day and hasn't missed a session. You look at all the great centre half-forwards, they are super-fit athletes who are highly competitive. Michael wants to be that."
So where does he play?
"We are training him to play a number of roles.
"He will certainly play some forward for us, and depending on the way the rest of our list is going, he could also play back."
Full-field defence is a clear focus for Hird given the lessons of 2012.
We are trying to play the kind of footy we think can compete come finals. I think we played some really good football last season but we had some flaws that came out under real pressure. We have got to tighten those areas of our game up. So when we play those really good teams, we don't crack under pressure.
There will be no excuses next year, but that's fine by Hird.
