James Hird looks set to be the next coach at Essendon after confirming on Monday night he had thrown his hat in the ring for the vacant job.

The former Essendon AFL premiership captain said he'd put his hand up to coach the Bombers next season, and had been interviewed by the club for the role.

"I've put my hat in the ring and I've spent about a week and a half going through the (interview) process," Hird told Fox Sports' On The Couch program.

"As we sit here right now, I haven't been offered that job but I'm very hopeful it does happen."

Hird, 37, had previously said his business commitments would preclude him from replacing Matthew Knights as the Bombers' senior coach.

The 1996 Brownlow Medallist and four-time Essendon best and fairest has told business partners at Gemba, the sports marketing company he part-owns, he wanted to coach the club and made arrangements to free up the time to do so.

"There are a lot of things in my life I had to get organised before I could commit to anything and go ahead and do it," Hird said.

"Fortunately over the last week and a half, a lot of those things have fallen into place and I have put my hand up, hopefully, to be the Essendon coach."

Hird said the Bombers had not given him any guarantees he would get the job.

But it would appear a formality that the club's favourite son will take on the role - perhaps with an experienced AFL coach alongside him.

"I rang (Essendon chief executive) Ian Robson and said `Ian, I'd love the job, what's the process and how do I go about it?'

"He outlined the process that any prospective coach at Essendon would have to go through and over the last week and a half I've gone through that process with interviews and also a presentation that I hope has gone well."

Robson declined to comment on Hird specifically on Monday night, but admitted Essendon was within sight of appointing a coach by the start of AFL trade week next Tuesday.

"We've said all along we had hoped to have our coach in place by the start of trade week and that's certainly still a possibility," he told AAP, saying the club had conducted at least one interview earlier on Monday.

Hird, who retired from playing at the end of the 2007 season, has no senior coaching experience and has spent the past three years combining his work with Gemba with AFL commentary for Fox Sports.

He said he would have no problem with a more senior person working with him at the Bombers, with ex-Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams and former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley mentioned as possible candidates.

Both have already declared their interest in taking on the Bombers' senior coaching job.

But Hird also raised the spectre of Geelong premiership coach Mark Thompson, also an ex-Bombers captain, being part of a coaching dream team alongside his former teammate.

"The job I've gone for is the senior coaching job, and they've spoken to me about a senior assistant who would assist me in certain parts of the role and I'm comfortable with that," Hird said.

"I'd like to speak to `Bomber' (Thompson) but I know he's got a contract at Geelong so ... I think the rules pretty much say you can't do that."

Hird said his three years outside the AFL had provided him with the necessary man-management skills and football education to make a fist of the Essendon senior coaching role.

"The last two years at Fox Sports, I've watched eight games a week, been across every game ... I think I understand the game.

"But there's still a lot of gaps I need to fill and it's not just about me as the coach.

"I want to, if I get this job as coach, put the best coaching group around me so it's a group coaching the Essendon football team, not just one person."

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