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Hagley Park In Stadium Live FeedHow Hird’s influence led to McCartney and Heppell landing at Port Melbourne
Andrew Slevison • December 11th, 2024 3:30 pm
It was James Hird who in fact reached out to Brendan McCartney regarding the Port Melbourne coaching job.
Former Western Bulldogs coach McCartney has taken the reins at the Borough, recently signing a deal to lead them for the next three years.
The VFL club was initially hoping to lure Essendon great James Hird as head coach, but he was unable to commit and has instead taken up a director of coaching role at the club where his son Tom has spent he last two seasons.
McCartney, who spent the last two seasons working part-time at Collingwood, explained how his move to North Port Oval came about, stemming from the season he spent under Hird at the Bombers in 2011.
“‘Hirdy’ reached out to me. I think they were very keen to get him involved,” McCartney said on SEN Breakfast.
“He wasn’t in a position to coach them with his son there and he’s just building a new business himself.
“He was developing a love of the place. He said there’s a light tower around on the wing that’s got his footprints all over it as he used to kick it when he got frustrated with some of the things he was seeing on the ground.
“He just asked me would I consider doing it and over a couple of weeks I warmed to it a little bit. I met Sophie Williams, who is the CEO there, and is a really switched on lady who really knows what she’s doing, and Toby Pinwill (football director) who is a legend of the club.
“I never really liked him much because I’d go and watch the young blokes play against him and he’d belt them. But when I look back now, he toughened a lot of them up and taught them what footy was all about.
“The chat was great and it went from there.”
The Borough also landed former Bombers captain Dyson Heppell who retired from the AFL at the end of the 2024 season.
Heppell penned a two-year deal with Port and has taken up a multi-faceted role as a player, assistant coach and community ambassador.
The signing of the 253-gamer obviously came about through that strong Essendon connection, says McCartney.
“Then Hirdy went to work on Dyson and they have a great relationship,” the former Melbourne, Essendon and Richmond assistant added.
“I had a year with ‘Hep’ at Essendon and loved him in his first season there (in 2011), I did a lot of work with him so the relationship was strong.
“His role is really impressive, it’s a community role, it’s a coaching role, he’s going to play, he still wants to run the foundation for his little mate ‘H’ (Harrison Pennicott). That’s all part of it.
“He wants to have a really good footprint in the community, his presence is great.
“He just coaches in a refreshing way, it’s friendly, it’s positive and he still looks at the game from a player’s point of view which is really important as well.”
Port Melbourne finished 16th on the VFL ladder in 2024 under Adam Skrobalak. They last won the premiership in 2017 under Gary Ayres.
Listen to McCartney on SEN Breakfast below:
