Essendon is open to bringing back club great Matthew Lloyd into the four walls of Tullamarine as they enter a new era under Mark McVeigh.
Lloyd has been lauded for his work at Haileybury as the senior football coach and has recently opened up about considering returning to AFL clubland.
The Bombers unveiled McVeigh as their new senior coach and will be looking for key assets to help him bring the club back to being the powerhouse they once were.
"I see what Matthew has done at Haileybury and the time and effort he puts in. I think it's marvellous," Essendon president Andrew Welsh said on The Agenda Setters.
"There's parents with kids coming through that program. He's an amazing asset. He's always focused on his media, and it's the first time I've actually heard him talking around it.
"He'll definitely be someone that the club would love to have a chat to because clearly what he's done with his younger players at Haileybury - the success that they've had - he knows how to teach, but that will be a conversation at a point in time we'd like to have."
McVeigh beat out fellow candidates James Hird, Jayme Graham and Murray Davis for the position.
Welsh, when quizzed on Hird's coaching prospects, admitted he was impressed.
"He's certainly a worthy candidate to be included," the Bombers president said.
"He really impressed the panel in his first interview. We did catch up as a five-person panel with James, and he really impressed us. We felt from that point on, it was right for him to go through the process.
"He presented extremely well. His philosophy on football, the work he's done away from the game. We hope in some way, we can get him back involved in the club because he's such a special person of the club, and I think there's real value he can add."
Why didn't Hird get the job?
"We found with Mark the background he has in development; he's got a lot of evidence: his football philosophy, his game philosophy, he's been in successful environments, top-four environments. He just left the Sydney Swans, and they're second.
"That evidence is extremely strong, and his one-club approach made him a standout applicant in the process, and why he was appointed."
So why do the Bombers want Hird?
"James, through his presentation, has got some great ideas in certain areas around the football club that we believe can be beneficial," Welsh explained.
"A really beneficial part of our young, developing list. The work that he did overseas learning about different areas, not just in our game, but teaching, we thought could be really beneficial.
"We hope that conversation can evolve. James said he always wants what's best for the club, and we feel that our club, with James involved, will be better placed."
