Football icon James Hird has told friends that cheating is not the reason behind his explosive split with wife Tania, who has been photographed for the first time since the news became public while out golfing with two of their children.
The end of the couple's 27-year marriage shocked the football world when it came to light on Monday, and the couple somehow managed to keep the end of their relationship a secret for more than a year.
Now a family friend has revealed to Daily Mail Australia that Essendon legend Hird has been telling friends there was no infidelity in the decision to go their separate ways, and that he still treasures the woman who stood by him during the Bombers drug scandal that brought him to the brink.
“He is telling his friends that he will always love Tania,” the source revealed.
'James thinks he has done an incredible job raising his children.
“Neither of them have cheated, there is no third party involved, but after 27 years they have simply drifted apart.”
Pictured: Tania Hird goes out to play a round of golf with her sons Tom and Alex on Tuesday. It is the first time she has been seen in public since the news of her split with James was revealed.
A source close to the Hird family told Daily Mail Australia the breakdown of the relationship had nothing to do with cheating on anyone's part.
The source also revealed that James is telling his friends that he will always love Tania.
The pair appear together at the Federal Court during a hearing into the Essendon drugs scandal in 2014. Tania was the football legend's rock during that incredibly stressful time.
“Tania was his rock when he went through the peptide scandal (in Essendon) and he will always be grateful for all the support she showed him.”
Another source with links to the Hird family said the couple were keen to keep their split out of the spotlight until all their children – Stephanie, Tom, Alex and William – had finished school.
That source also maintained that there was some tension between James and Tania over his interest in returning to football as he was linked with a coaching position at club Port Melbourne last year.
Tania, who left telltale signs online pointing to the breakdown of the marriage, was seen enjoying a round of golf with her sons Alex and Tom on Tuesday.
In photos taken exclusively for Daily Mail Australia, the lawyer turned fashion mogul was spotted at Burnley Golf Club in Melbourne's inner east.
One of the clues she left about the breakup came in an Instagram post for her clothing business, Tania Hird Designs, in which she appears photographed with her three children during a trip to Vietnam last October, without her ex-husband.
Tania also stopped wearing her wedding ring in photos she posted to promote the business, and the ring went missing in September last year.
James has reportedly moved out of the family home in the super-exclusive Melbourne suburb of Toorak as he prepares to take on a new football-related media job.
The two-time premiership winner will join Channel Nine's coverage of the 2025 AFL season on Sunday night television show Footy Furnace alongside another great of the game, Jimmy Bartel.
Hird is reclusive and has made only rare public appearances lately and has endured a roller coaster ride when it comes to his career.
After earning nearly every accolade the game had to offer during a playing stint that saw him star in 253 games from 1992 to 2007, he began working successfully at a leading sports management company before becoming head coach of his beloved Bombers in 2011.
Daily Mail Australia's source also revealed that Hird praised his ex-wife for doing an incredible job raising their four children.
His initial success in the role came to a halt in February 2013, when allegations of his players' use of illegal drugs and supplements were revealed in a scandal that shook the sport to its core.
Thirty-four of its stars were found guilty on appeal of using performance-enhancing drugs during the 2012 AFL season.
Relying on Tania while battling endless headlines and hearings, Hird was suspended from working for Essendon for 12 months in a decision handed down in August 2013.
He stepped down as the club's manager in August 2015, by which time he was so shaken that he called the Beyond Blue organization for help.
Hird was rushed to hospital in January 2017 after overdosing on prescription drugs at his Toorak home, and was later transferred to a specialist mental health facility.
He spoke about the devastating effects of the drug scandal in 2020 and expressed his respect and gratitude to Tania.
“I remember sitting on my kitchen floor and everyone had gone to bed, my wife was upstairs, the kids were in bed and I was sitting there crying on the floor,” he said.
Tania, who worked as a lawyer, left revealing clues on the internet about the breakup of her marriage
The fashion business owner posted this photo showing her on vacation with her three children last October, with James nowhere to be seen.
'You're just grieving this life you had. As much as I was glad to retire because I'm sick of being in pain…there was a grieving process.
'I really felt for my wife because she was trying to keep our family together.
“She's a very proud person and also very defensive of me because she's obviously seen me go through a lot.”
He also made a raw confession about how the toll of the scandal changed him.
“Over the past four years, I have been short-tempered, distant, difficult to get along with, sometimes rude and sick,” he admitted in 2017.
The couple amassed a large business and property portfolio after marrying, including two houses in Toorak.
They sold one of their luxury investment homes for $4.2 million in 2015 and pocketed a $1.5 million profit.
A former lawyer, Tania founded her own hair care brand called HairFlare in addition to her fashion company.
Hird, 51, is considered one of the greatest Australian players of all time, winning almost every title and accolade the game has to offer in a 15-year career in which he played 253 games for the Dons.
A member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, he jointly won the Brownlow Medal as the game's best and fairest player, and was named in the club's team of the century in 1997.