Bombers begin contacting candidates for senior role as search for Brad Scott’s successor gets underway

Essendon will start reaching out to candidates for their coaching role this week, beginning the first phase of the club’s search for a longer-term successor to Brad Scott.

The Bombers confirmed on Monday that they would begin contacting prospective candidates for the senior coaching role, and begin with chats – rather than full-bore presentations – over the next two weeks.

James Hird is one of the candidates who has expressed interest in the top job at Essendon.AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Bombers said there had been no shortage of interest in the role from candidates working at AFL clubs, but they would not be drawn on any individual candidates due to a wish for confidentiality.

The stated strong interest in the coaching role, occupied until season’s end by interim coach Dean Solomon, was in spite of the presence in the process of former coach and champion James Hird, who launched his bid for the position on Nine’s Footy Classified shortly after Scott’s removal, and his 2000 premiership teammate Solomon’s role as caretaker.

Essendon are considered certain to interview some of the same candidates – assistant coaches in the system – that will be on Carlton’s list, currently about nine to 10 candidates, plus Hird. Solomon, who has stated a wish to play any role at Essendon and is contracted for 2027, has not yet declared whether he will put his hand up for the position he has on an interim basis.

Carlton’s list of candidates includes Fremantle assistant Jaymie Graham, Geelong pair James Kelly and James Rahilly, St Kilda assistant Corey Enright, Hawthorn’s assistant Daniel Giansiracusa and Bulldogs assistant Brendon Lade.

Giansiracusa will not pursue the Essendon position, having left the Bombers after 2025 to further his senior coaching ambitions as head of development at the Hawks.

Brisbane Lions assistant Cam Bruce has ruled himself out of the Carlton job, due to a wish to remain in Brisbane for his daughter’s final school year. Collingwood’s Hayden Skipworth is another potential aspirant for the Essendon and Carlton roles.

Carlton caretaker Josh Fraser has stuck to his position that he is not seeking the role for next year, despite seven consecutive wins since he took over from Michael Voss. Carlton are likely to speak to him about whether he is interested in the role later in the season.

The Blues intend to speak to ex-senior coaches John Longmire and Ken Hinkley at some stage, though the industry view is that they are more inclined to hire an assistant coach, as Collingwood did when now Carlton chief executive Graham Wright was head of football at the Magpies, choosing Craig McRae over Adam Kingsley in a process that broke new ground at Collingwood.

The willingness of the highly experienced Longmire and Hinkley to pursue either position remains unclear, with Hinkley having said the Dons needed to decide on the Hird question – whether they want the former coach and club great – before he would consider any process.

Hird has been out of AFL clubland since his exit from Essendon in 2015, aside from half a season as assistant coach at the Giants, supporting his friend and then interim coach Mark McVeigh. He has worked part-time at VFL club Port Melbourne.

Hinkley, Longmire and Nathan Buckley are the leading candidates for the Tasmania Devils senior coaching job, for which Buckley has already been interviewed. The Devils are keen on a coach with senior experience.