Isaac Smith

James Heard come back.

The fans are rallying behind it already.

And, yeah, it'll be fascinating to see.

But in terms of coaching, I think he sees the game very well.

The hard thing for James was that everyone in the industry was talking about it, and at some point he had to come out and say something.

And to be fair, he only said that he'd undertake a process.

I thought he was fantastic, but now it's... The question I wanted to ask you, if the hierarchy at Essendon do decide that James is the best guy for the job and they want to go forward with him...

Does he start immediately?

Well, he would have a half-season head start.

He would begin work, surely.

He would begin work, but in the back office.

You don't think you'd see him in the coach's box?

Because, like, I know there's processes and they play out and it takes weeks and months and all that, but...

If you decide that that's the decision we're going with, you can appoint someone tomorrow.

They're the same thing.

And that's what I said.

No, they're not.

But they shouldn't be.

They shouldn't be the same thing at all.

The best for Essendon is different to appeasing coterie groups.