SUNSHINE, Melbourne -- There have been plenty of famous names to take the field at Knights Stadium over the years. Luminaries that have left indelible marks on the Australian games such as Mark Viduka, Josip Biskić, and the man that now patrols their dugout, Ivan Franjić.
Last Thursday, in the opening game of the NPL Men's Victoria season, another famous name began its journey at the storied club; albeit, theirs is a name whose legacy was built 20 minutes down the Ring Road, down at Windy Hill.
Given a starting nod at left-back against Heidelberg United, Alex Hird, the son of Essendon legend James, made his competitive debut for Melbourne Knights FC and did his bit to ensure it would be a memorable one; steaming in from his place on the left to get under an attempted clearance sent skyward and head down for Joshua Karantz to fire home in the 77th minute, snuffing out an attempted fight-back from the Bergers and secure a 3-2 win.
Lining up across from Jamal Ali and Sabit Ngor, the latter recently returning to Heidelberg on loan from the Central Coast Mariners, it wasn't a flawless debut from the young defender -- Fletcher Fulton ghosted past him on the way to setting up a would-be 96th-minute equaliser by Bul Juach that was disallowed for offside -- but it wasn't a debut without promise, either. Wearing No. 4, rather than his father's famous No. 5, Hird almost had the game's opening goal in the 15th minute in addition to his match-winning assist, pouncing on a blocked shot from former Celtic youth prospect Leo Mazis, before cutting inside and firing a shot into the post.
"We kept calm and were able to pull through," Hird told ESPN after the match. "Very, very happy with that."
Though James may be one of the all-time AFL greats, football was always a big part of the Hird household growing up. Alex and his older brother Tom both played in the juniors of Port Melbourne Sharks in their youth, with the latter even spending time in Europe trialling with the likes of Stoke City and Ajax. The call of Australian Rules was strong, of course, and both brothers had stints at the Bombers VFL side and academy. Tom -- who is now on the books of Port Melbourne's VFL side -- was named to the Sharks' 20-player NPL roster in 2020 before departing to join the Dons as a Category B Rookie.
But the round ball eventually won out for Alex, who arrived at the Knights in 2025 after spending the past few years in the academy of A-League Men outfit Western United, working under NPL coach Diogo Ferreira, academy head Anthony Frost, and A-League Men boss John Aloisi.
"I just love the game," Hird said. "I love the people involved. A lot of people ask me how I ended up here; Mum loves soccer, my whole family loves soccer. Dad's a huge Liverpool fan. [It's] unfortunate, as I'm a Chelsea man myself, but from a young age we've been getting out watching Premier League games, Champions League games, finals, everything.
"Soccer just runs in my family. Dad spent a bit of time around Melbourne Knights, doing talks and that kind of thing. He was a Canberra boy growing up and Melbourne Knights was the team that he went for [in the old National Soccer League]. So, I guess that partly plays into how they ended up here, as well."
Of course, 2025 shapes as a massive year not just for the Knights, but also for the pyramid underpinning Australian football as a whole.
With state-based seasons kicking off around the country, it's anticipated that Football Australia will soon unveil details surrounding the launch of the National Second Tier, which is scheduled to begin in October following the conclusion of the NPL season, utilising a Champions League model unveiled last November.
While the Knights aren't one of the three foundation sides from Victoria that will take part in this inaugural season -- South Melbourne, Avondale, and Preston representing Victoria amongst the eight initial clubs -- its president Simon Pincic confirmed at the Knights' season launch last week that it had met with Football Australia and submitted an expression of interest with the hope of being admitted to the competition in 2026.
For Hird, though, entering his first full season of professional football, it's about continuing to learn under Franjić and, as his coach says, to find a way to continue to forge his own story, in a professional league here in Australia or overseas.
"That's the end goal," he said. "That will be the end goal, to try and make it into the pro league."