Essendon great Terry Daniher has welcomed the prospect of James Hird returning as coach, but has implored the embattled club to run "the right process" to appoint Brad Scott's replacement.
Hird, meanwhile, has denied a report he's assembled a management team for the role, while adding he had given that idea some thought and would like Essendon to contact him about the job.
Daniher addressed the Bombers' playing group at Tullamarine on Tuesday as he helped launch the club's Big Freeze event, ahead of a clash with old rivals Carlton on Sunday night.
The 1984-85 premiership captain urged Essendon to "fight on" through a tough period, after Scott was sacked last week with just one win in his last 24 games at the helm.
Hird wants to return for another stint as coach and looms large over the process, with backing from famous club figures Kevin Sheedy and Michael Long.
But Daniher echoed the thoughts of champion full-forward Matthew Lloyd, who simply wants the best candidate to take over.
"If you're running the right process, it's only fair that James should have to go through it too," Daniher told reporters on Tuesday.
"If he's putting his hand up, which he says in the media he wants to coach, well, OK James, you want to coach, just like the others, line up and put your best foot forward.
"I'd love to have him back but I also want it done the right way."
Essendon, now under interim coach Dean Solomon, sit last on the ladder with a 1-11 record after last week's loss to West Coast.
Bombers defender Archie Roberts said the players needed "someone we trust and inspires us" as their next coach, and welcomed the prospect of playing under Hird.
"If James gets the opportunity, I'm looking forward to it. I've only heard great things about him," Roberts said.
Speaking on Channel 9 on Tuesday night, Hird denied a report he had assembled a management team including ex-Bombers star Dyson Heppell, Sydney assistant coach Mark McVeigh, and Brendan McCartney, the former Western Bulldogs coach and Hird's assistant when he coached Essendon in 2011.
But Hird, whose critics cite his lack of recent coaching experience, conceded he had given thought to the team he would gather around him if he gained the Bombers' job.
"Obviously you think about who you'd like; you've got people in the football world who you respect and who you'd like to work with," Hird said.
"But putting a team together hasn't happened."
Hird said he would "like to be part of the process" in the selection of Essendon's next coach, and would like to be contacted by the club.
But he added: "I've been very conscious not to reach out (to the club) because I think that is spoiling the process and actually inserting myself in a way that I don't want to.
"I want Essendon to go about and go through an exhaustive process. If I'm the candidate they choose, fantastic. If I'm not, I'm not."
Daniher, addressing the Essendon playing group, said they could take lessons from his brother Neale's legacy, after Neale lost his long battle with motor neurone disease last week.
"(You're) going through a tough period at the moment. There's no question about it," Daniher said.
"(You) can't be much lower ... you've got to face the facts. You've got to face them head on, as Nealo would.
"As he's shown us, there's only one way. You've got to be resilient enough and take it on, take the challenges on.
"Nealo tried to keep a level playing field from start to whoa (as a player and coach), and I reckon he showed that all the way through.
"(He) never fell down, never dropped his bundle."
Essendon take on a Carlton side that is also operating with an interim coach in Josh Fraser.
The Blues have won three consecutive games under Fraser since Michael Voss was sacked last month.
