Soon after, across town, Sheedy was asked to recount his three favourite memories of Hird. One was the 2000 premiership. Another was his courageous return from a fractured skull and the courage he displayed when he charged at the ball ‘no reserve.’ Sheedy’s final recollection sets him apart from his contemporary. ‘Hugging the fan was a big one.’ Some in the room begin to laugh but Sheeds is deadly serious. How absurd that this memory be listed as one of the great Essendon champions crowning achievements I wondered and yet as time passes, it is probably one of my most vivid football memories.

James Hird had plenty of reasons to resent the game that gave him a long list of serious injuries, the worst of which was a fractured skull in 2002. Despite all this, he celebrated the Dons’ final handful of wins in 2007 with conviction. He embraced team-mates like families at Tullamarine embrace loved ones returning from a sabbatical. He celebrated his last game at the MCG by taking his three children onto the hallowed turf for a kick after the final siren. Stoping to smell the roses had never been so perfectly exemplified in footy. For a moment, he reminded us to savour footy.

Since his retirement, there are some signs that Buckley is spending less time red-lining and more time enjoying life. He joined the crew of Hugo Boss II for the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. He’s going to jump behind the wheel of a Fiat 500 for the celebrity race at the 2008 Grand Prix and he enters 2008 as a media personality. He will join channel seven’s commentary team on Saturday night. He is Wayne Carey’s replacement at 3AW.

The day Buckley retired I remember driving home from work and listening to talkback radio holding an open forum on Buckley’s career. The callers bagged him relentlessly. How could it be that a champion who has won a Brownlow medal, six club best and fairests and a Norm Smith medal be reflected upon like this. Hours earlier Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse described him as ‘the grandest footballer I’ve ever seen.’ Talkback callers chose words like ‘receiver’ and ‘over rated’ to describe him.

Buckley has always answered his critics by training hard and dominating games of footy. To be a successful television personality though, he will need to learn to become more relaxed, at ease and likeable. The stony, hard focus approach that he adopted during his captaincy at Collingwood might not apply here. He may need to take a leaf out of Hirdy’s book and learn to enjoy footy like the rest of us.

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