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The public pressure from rivals clubs on Essendon to reconsider its position on re-appointing James Hird as coach after his 12-month suspension continues to mount. Outgoing Sydney chairman Richard Colless said he believed key Bombers officials had failed to take proper accountability for their actions in the fallout from the supplements scandal and described Hird as "anything but heroic". It comes after Geelong chief executive Brian Cook and Port Adelaide president David Koch both took opportunities over the weekend to publicly urge the Bombers to find "fresh" people with no link to the supplements saga to take the club forward. Last Tuesday, Hird became the first coach ever to be banned for 12 months after accepting that Essendon, with him as senior coach, was guilty of bringing the game into disrepute. Just minutes after the ban was announced to the media, Bombers chairman Paul Little committed to re-appointing Hird to coach the team when he returns. The following day, Hird was described as "heroic" by his lawyer for accepting the penalty, despite the fact that - by doing so - Hird was agreeing that he contributed to the club's failure to take sufficient steps to ensure the health and welfare of its players and avoid there being a risk that players may have taken banned substances. "I don't bare any ill-well to James Hird, I don't know him. But I think that, on two occasions, to be called heroic, to me, is really showing contempt for the football public," Colless said on Fox Footy on Monday night. "I think he was anything but heroic. He might be a very nice guy and a very decent person, but I think he was singularly unheroic, quite frankly." It's understood several other clubs privately hold reservations about Hird returning straight back into the senior job in 2015. Hird has said he did not believe he broke any rules and that he took the penalty to resolve the issue and minimise damage to the club. Reflecting on his 20-year stint as president as he prepares to hand over the job at the end of this season, the game's longest-serving current official said the supplements saga was the biggest issue he could remember during his time in football. "I think it's by far and away the biggest thing because everything else that has involved 'breaking of the rules', hasn't involved the welfare of individuals," Colless said. "And I think the health and safety of individuals has clearly been compromised," he said. "I'm not a lawyer or a pharmacist so I look at these things through the eyes of an administrator. "I just think it's extraordinary that so much of what, is now well documented, occurred and yet no one seems to take any ownership for it. It really strikes me as remarkable. "I reckon that in a well-run club, the CEO would know about it [the supplements program] within two days, and within three days the coach would have known about it." Koch, the man who has helped lead Port Adelaide from basket case to finals contender in one year, said he would have immediately stepped down as president if his club found itself in the same situation and that Hird would never have been allowed to coach at his club again. Cook, meanwhile, added that he doubted whether the AFL would want Mark Thompson, who was also sanctioned out of the supplements scandal, to coach Essendon next season on an interim basis while the club waited for Hird. If his club were the same position, Cook - arguably the game's most-respected administrator - said he would want a senior coach who was not involved in last year's supplements saga. "I don't think it sends a great message," he said. "Our reputation would have been damaged to some degree and we would have needed to claw that back. My opinion is I would have brought some fresh people in."

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