Tom Hird sidelined with navicular stress fracture
Essendon's Tom Hird has suffered a navicular stress fracture, the same foot injury that plagued his father, club great James.
The Bombers said the 19-year-old category B rookie had experienced soreness in his foot over recent days and scans revealed the stress fracture.
Tom Hird at Bombers training in March.Credit:Getty Images
"Tom will rest his foot for the next period and we will continue to monitor his progress but it will be a longer-term injury," club football manager Dan Richardson said.
"It’s a disappointing setback for Tom after his start with the club in recent months, and with the nature of navicular injuries, we will continue to take full caution approaching Tom's rehabilitation over the coming weeks."
Tom's father James struggled with a stress fracture to his navicular bone, which first struck him down in 1997. In the seasons leading up to Essendon's 2000 premiership, he played 22 games of a possible 70, but surgery overseas in 1999 helped him return to captain the Dons to a flag.
Earlier this year, James said he was "shocked" by Tom's decision to join the Bombers.
The younger Hird had focused on soccer throughout his teens, including playing for Port Melbourne in Victoria's NPL and also having a trial in the Netherlands, before joining the Bombers on a two-year deal in March.
"I think [Tom's mother] Tania and I were both pretty shocked actually that he chose to go down this path," former Essendon coach Hird told the Working Through It podcast.
"He'd been going very well in his soccer, both here and overseas so we were a bit taken aback that he wanted to go down that path but he and [general manager of list and recruiting] Adrian Dodoro must have been concocting some plan without us knowing.
"Obviously now he's down that path, we're fully supportive and he's training very hard."