The rumoured Dons coaching call that would "horrify" Tim Watson

Essendon’s search for a new head coach is set to ramp up over the bye round, with Tom Morris reporting that President Andrew Welsh will commence talks this week.

After sacking coach Brad Scott, the Bombers are in desperate need to nail down a senior coach for the future, having gone without a finals win since 2004.

However, with former head coach James Hird keen on the role and current interim coach Dean Solomon reportedly leading the charge for the full-time position, Morris has reported that the shortlist isn't expected to be very lengthy.

“Big fortnight coming up for Essendon,” Morris told SEN’s Fireball.

“Things will start to move now behind the scenes.

“Andrew Welsh, Ted Richards – the footy director, CEO Tim Roberts, they will all speak in the next few days to determine exactly what this process is to appoint a new coach.

“They will first work to determine the characteristics they want in a new coach, and then they will have a shortlist.

“The list could be very short – it could be one or two names; it might be three or four names. I don’t think it’s going to be an exhaustive 10 or 15 names that they will then whittle down.

“I’m still looking at Mark McVeigh at the Sydney Swans as someone they will speak to at some stage, whether it’s to be their senior coach or whether it’s to come into support whoever the senior coach is.

“This will start to move a little bit quicker now. They’ve sat, it’s the bye for the Bombers, the players have gone away, this is when Andrew Welsh will get to work.”

Citing Morris' revelation over the Dons' reported process and reports over the weekend stating Welsh's desire to hand Solomon the job, Garry Lyon believes that the club could be on for a monumental mistake.

“I got genuinely concerned when I read over the weekend – whether this is real or imagined, I don’t know – that Andrew Welsh is going to make a captain’s call and appoint Solly,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.

“I love Solly, you know I love Solly, but if it is (real), it would be a monumental mistake.

“Andrew hasn’t been back in the footy game for that long, and Solly hasn’t coached for that long.

“I think Solly is a fantastic operator, but you need to go out into the market, because of Steven King.

“Everyone thought Melbourne were going to appoint Nathan Buckley, and everyone knows how great a career Bucks has had, he has coached to a Grand Final. That was where it was tracking.

“They ran a process, and this guy presented, and you go wow. I know it’s early days, but you could not have had a bigger impact than he has had.”

Club legend Tim Watson would not take to the decision lightly.

“I’d be horrified if they did this,” he said.

“I would be absolutely horrified that my club would do that and not go out there and run a proper process to find out the best candidate.

“I listened to Solly’s press conference at the weekend and I thought he was outstanding in the way that he spoke and the message that he was delivering.

“If I’m an Essendon fan sitting there listening to that, I’m thinking, we’re in pretty good hands at the moment.

“But you’ve got to go out there and find out whether or not the person you are going to appoint is the best candidate and is the best person. You’ll find out very quickly who gets thrown up in terms of possibilities out there.

“If you’ve got the right interviewing process – I don’t think that somebody like Andrew Welsh should sit on that selection panel either, it should be another panel that is arm’s length from the football club, independent as you can possibly make it from the football club, so there is no leanings, there’s no connection to any of the people that go there and get interviewed – I think that’s in fairness to them as well.”

Lyon: “If you do that, and you do it properly and run it well, and Dean Solomon spits out, what have you lost?

“All you’ve got is you’ve confirmed that you’ve got the man, you’ve stacked him up against whoever else and if that’s where it ends up, then great. Charge ahead.

“But in the process, if you don’t do it… Solly didn’t coach for a long time. Again, I want to stress, I’m a huge fan. I love his people skills; I love his ability to connect.

“But you just want to test that. You want to test that against him, and against him, and you benchmark that against him, and then you go, ‘yep, he is our man’, or ‘he’s a bit off the mark here’.

“If you don’t do it, where are you? Nowhere!”

Watson: “I couldn’t agree more.

“I was horrified when I picked up the paper the other day and I read that that might be the thinking and there was going be some sort of a captains call on the coaching position at Essendon.

“I just don’t think that’s going to wash with Essendon people, and it shouldn’t either. We should be out there, trying to find the best possible coach that we possibly can.

“It is a big job; it is a huge job.”

David King also couldn’t help but question their reported process.

“What’s the upside or just having four or five rather than eight or nine?” he said.

Morris: “You expedite the process. It’s targeted.”

King: “But aren’t you gathering information? Isn’t it your one opportunity as a football club to gather as much information as you can?

“I think it’s crazy not to chat to as many people who are as interested as the next.”

Morris: “St Kilda only spoke to Ross Lyon, they knew what they wanted.”

King: “If you target one guy, that’s totally different.

“If you want to appoint Solly (Dean Solomon), just appoint him. If you want to appoint James Hird, just appoint him.

“If you can get John Longmire, bang, get it done. Outside of that, I would be gathering as much information as I could.”

Kane Cornes added: “I don’t know where they’re at.

“Why does it have to be an Essendon person? Every name I keep hearing is a former Essendon player.

“I’m a bit confused about Essendon’s approach.”