Beleaguered Essendon coach James Hird has heaped praise on his players and Bombers fans for how they are handling the AFL club’s crisis.
After a nightmare 10 days, Essendon beat the Western Bulldogs by 26 points and lost to Collingwood by two points on Friday night at Etihad Stadium in round one of the NAB Cup.
The club has been under massive pressure since revealing concerns about supplements that Essendon players took last season.
The Bombers are now under a joint Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and AFL investigation.
The findings could ruin Essendon’s immediate future and the investigation itself will probably take months.
Hird said his players were handling the crisis superbly.
“I’ve been so proud of the players at Essendon for the last 10 days,” he said.
“They have just shown a strength of character that not many people have and they have been resilient,” he said.
“They’ve been focussed on their footy when I can imagine they would have liked to just been focussed on themselves.
“Tonight’s performance, with everything that’s going on in the background, I thought was terrific.”
Hird said their pre-season training had been at a high standard and they had tried to separate the football from the doping investigation.
He described Friday night’s performance as okay, not outstanding.
“It’s always great to play footy – we’d rather be playing footy without this hanging over our head, that would be more of a relief,” Hird admitted.
“But that’s not going to happen for a while.
“We just really enjoyed tonight and it’s good to see Essendon players out there playing football after six months off.
The team was greeted with warm applause from Bombers fans when they ran out for game one against the Bulldogs.
Hird said he was not concerned about how the fans would greet his team.
“It is a great club and has so many great supporters and I knew there would be a lot of those supporters out there,” he said.
“This has a long way to go and I probably can’t say too much more, but I wasn’t apprehensive at all how we were going to be received.
“They love Essendon and they’ll stick with it through thick and thin.”
Star recruit Brendon Goddard played well in the two games and Hird said the former St Kilda utility had been impressive.
“He’s fitted into the group really well and even in the last 10 days, he’s embraced the football club,” Hird said.
“He probably had reason not to and has.”