Updated ,first published
Sydney Swans’ assistant Mark McVeigh will present to the Essendon board on Monday as the club prepares to make an announcement on their new senior coach.
The 45-year-old was in the coaches’ box as the Swans defeated North Melbourne in an emotional encounter at the SCG but will be in Melbourne to make a final presentation to the board before his expected endorsement as coach, according to two industry sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
McVeigh played 232 matches at Essendon after being chosen with pick No.9 in the 1998 national draft. After retiring in 2012 he moved back to NSW where he became an assistant coach at the Giants when Leon Cameron stood down in 2022.
He coached 13 matches for four wins with former teammates James Hird and Dean Solomon in the coaches’ box alongside him. He then moved to the Sydney Swans where he coached as an assistant under John Longmire and Dean Cox.
Other candidates for the position were James Hird, Jaymie Graham and Murray Davis but McVeigh is the only candidate to make a final presentation to the board. Graham flew back to Perth with the Fremantle team after their match against Carlton on Saturday.
McVeigh was a teammate at Essendon of club president Andrew Welsh as was director Ted Richards.
Hird, an Essendon great who is a friend of McVeigh, declared on Channel 9’s Footy Classified in late May that he was keen to coach the Bombers again after leaving the club in 2015 following the drugs saga which saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspend 34 players for the 2016 season for anti-doping infractions.
In declaring his interest for the job Hird had told the club he wanted to be put through an exhaustive process to find a replacement for Brad Scott who was sacked with 18 months remaining on his contract.
Several potential candidates including Ken Hinkley, who will coach the Tassie Devils, and Nathan Buckley did not take part in the process however the Bombers managed to select from a short list of four.
Their coaching selection panel included Welsh, CEO Tim Roberts, vice-president Anthony Di Pietro, board member Richards and people and culture manager Caroline Monzon.
The shortlisted candidates also underwent further interviews by experienced football analyst John Wardrop and former Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat.
Interim coach Dean Solomon decided not to throw his hat in the ring to be senior coach after his stint as interim coach saw little improvement in the Bombers’ performances.
Since Scott’s departure, key members of the football department – David Rath, Travis Varcoe, Dan McPherson, Ben Jacobs, Ben Robbins and Cam Roberts have finished up. Roberts, McPherson and Rath continued in their roles until the end of the home-and-away season.
