Robert Walls will help Essendon choose their next coach.Credit:Getty Images
Essendon football manager Josh Mahoney will chair the panel after a week of change in which club CEO Xavier Campbell resigned. Former NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn and club director Dorothy Hisgrove will also sit on the panel which will make a recommendation to the board,who will formally appoint the coach.
The club is looking to appoint an experienced coach by the end of September with the Bombers happy for former coach James Hird to enter the process if he wants to land the job,whileRoss Lyon is also a potential candidate as the Bombers aim to run an exhaustive process.
Walls,a respected media commentator and coaching analyst,was part of selection panels that saw Lyon land at the Saints and Rodney Eade win the job at Sydney where he coached them into a grand final in his first season. Lewis played under premiership coaches Alastair Clarkson and Simon Goodwin at Hawthorn and Melbourne respectively.
Lyon made his debut under Walls,however,the Carlton premiership coach,whose appointment to the panel was endorsed by board member Kevin Sheedy,is regarded as a fiercely independent thinker and straight shooter.
The Bombers are also rapt to have McKinnis involved as an experienced netball coach and Australian representative as the club expands their reach when their AFLW team plays their first game on Saturday night. McKinnis is regarded in netball circles as an outstanding industry leader.
A club source said the successful candidate would need to be experienced,but they did not necessarily have had to be a senior coach at AFL level to win the job,clarifying the comments made by new club president Dave Barham who said they were looking for an experienced coach,which many interpreted as meaning they needed to have been a senior AFL coach.