Essendon's pitch to reunite John Longmire with new senior coach Mark McVeigh is viewed as a "Hail Mary", but it worked as the Bombers landed their big fish.
Longmire's existing relationship with McVeigh, with the latter working under the premiership coach as an assistant, was a large part of Longmire's decision to head to Victoria.
"It was really through his relationship with (Mark) McVeigh," AFL agent Liam Pickering said on The Agenda Setters.
"They're great friends. They worked together at the Swans. Bit of a Hail Mary, I think, originally, to see whether John would actually want to do it.
"He warmed to the role over the last couple of weeks. Agreed pretty much over the weekend and sorted it out (on Monday).
"He's going to be in charge of performance. The day-to-day, the nuts-and-bolts of organising flights, players getting to places, logistics, will be more the other role.
"This role will be working with the coach and working on the general excellence of the club."
Longmire put his hand up for the inaugural Tasmania job, which was won by Ken Hinkley, but has avoided senior coaching at Carlton, Essendon and North Melbourne throughout the year.
Pickering isn't sure whether this move to the Bombers will open the door to another senior coaching stint.
"The role that appealed to him, and it's a role I think he will be very good at," he added.
"It won't whet his appetite (to be senior coach). But I don't think that's what he's doing. He's coming here to give himself a good chance at helping out the Essendon footy club to get them back to where they need to be.
"He'll be a great sounding board for Spike McVeigh. I think it's a terrific get by Essendon. I think it's a great opportunity for John to get back into day-to-day footy."
Longmire will also unite with former Swan Shane Mumford at the Bombers.
Mumford joined McVeigh's staff in a development coaching role after leaving his post as an assistant with GWS' AFLW program.
Essendon also announced Brent Prismall as the club's head of development last week after spending more than a decade at the Western Bulldogs.
The signings come as Cam Roberts, David Rath, Ben Jacobs, Daniel McPherson, Dean Solomon and Brad Scott all departed the club this year.
