Interim Essendon mentor Dean Solomon has not totally withdrawn from the club’s “process” as the search for a new coach heats up.
But Solomon says he won’t entertain the thought of taking on the job full-time while he keeps the chair warm for the remainder of the season.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Dean Solomon takes interim reins at Essendon
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“I won’t even consider that,” Solomon said on Thursday about applying for the full-time role.
“While I’m doing this job, I think it’s really the wrong thing to do for me to even entertain any thoughts in and around that.
“I’ve got to knuckle down. My last 48 hours has been chaos and I actually don’t have the capacity to take that kind of thought on at the moment.
“So that’s where I sit with it and that’s where I’ll sit with it for the rest of the season.”
Solomon also denied reports he had a poor working relationship with Scott, and spoke of his “respect” for the former coach.
“There’s not one part of me that felt there was any bitterness between Brad and I,” Solomon said.
He added becoming a senior coach was the “last thing on my mind” when he joined Scott’s panel as a back-line coach ahead of the 2026 season.
“Where my heart sits is with this football club,” Solomon said.
“It’s the reason I got back in my car and drove back down, was at that point in time to support Brad, the players and the staff on the strategy we’re on.
“I haven’t even considered being senior coach and I won’t consider that while I’m in this role.”
Carlton’s interim coach Josh Fraser ruled himself immediately from taking on the job permanently, but Solomon has not put a line through his own name in what could be a battle between himself and his premiership teammate James Hird.
Before Solomon’s media appearance on Thursday, he had been endearing himself further to the club in a sweeping gesture that could be seen as an early pitch for the job.
7SPORT expert Tom Morris revealed on Wednesday that Solomon had “emailed the entire Essendon Football Club (men’s and women’s)“ and invited everyone to a breakfast on Thursday morning in a bid “to unite the club”.
7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary told The Agenda Setters on Wednesday that he had expected Solomon to leave leave the question about the fullt-time position “open-ended”.
Meanwhile, Hird’s desire to coach Essendon has not wavered since he made the bombshell call on Tuesday night.
“He is adamant that he still wants to be part of an exhaustive process to be the next Essendon coach,” Morris said on The Agenda Setters.
“He wants to coach the club into 2027 and beyond. And he’s happy to confront as many questions or issues as need be to have this job at the Bombers, a job that he’s wanted now for the last decade,”
But serious doubts are emerging about whether Hird will actually get to be part of that process.
Cleary said had become “less confident” about Hird taking the reins at Essendon (again) after recent conversations with key sources.
“I understand there’s key figures around the Essendon Football Club that still hold major reservations on the fact that he’s only been in an AFL coaching box for 11 weeks in the last 11 years when he took a part-time job under Mark McVeigh when he was the interim at the Giants,” Cleary said on The Agenda Setters.
Veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson also said there were already rumblings at AFL House about Hird, and it seemed unlikely he would return to the job.
“My understanding is that someone senior at Essendon … has made it clear to the corridors of power at the AFL that (Hird) will not be happening,” Wilson said.
Pressed on whether there was a lingering “black mark” on Hird’s name due to the supplements scandal, AFL chief Andrew Dillon baulked at the suggestion.
“It’s a decision for the (Essendon) board to make and there’ll be a quality list of candidates for that role,” Dillon said on Wednesday night on Fox.
“I read today that James has put his hand up … and he would be considered, along with a list of other candidates.”
Dillon said people had forgotten that Hird returned to coaching in 2015 after a year off.
“He’s been an assistant coach at the GWS Giants since that time and even at the moment he’s got an active role with Port Melbourne in the VFL. So he’s part of football at the moment,” Dillon said.
“Ultimately it’ll be a decision that the Essendon footy club board will make.”
He said he had spoken to the Essendon chief executive Tim Roberts on Tuesday but Hird’d name “didn’t even come up”.
– With AAP
