KEVIN Muscat has a busy 10 days ahead. The coach of reigning Chinese Super League champion Shanghai Port has a couple of key games over the next week-and-a-half to keep his side out of the relegation zone after a dip down the table this season.

But in between those games against Shandong Taishan and Chongqing Tonglianglong, he will meet with Essendon's final four contenders for its senior coaching role: ex-Bombers coach and captain James Hird, Fremantle assistant Jaymie Graham, Adelaide director of coaching Murray Davis and Sydney assistant Mark McVeigh.

Muscat, and long-time opposition analyst John Wardrop, have been enlisted by Essendon's coaching process for different reasons, largely to add layers of experience to the Bombers' coaching panel that it doesn't have.

Muscat will have his chats over Zoom, with each contender to separately catch up with the former Melbourne Victory captain and coach as well as Wardrop, with the pair to then individually report back to the Bombers' panel with their take: Muscat on each coach's style, leadership, ability to work under pressure and views on culture, and Wardrop on game style, strategy and philosophies. 

The addition of Muscat to Essendon's process has obvious links. His former Victory chairman, Anthony Di Pietro, is the Bombers' vice-president. 

He knows the AFL (is a Carlton supporter) and Victory's home base was in the middle of Richmond's sporting precinct where he would often rub shoulders with AFL players during busy lunch time periods on Swan Street, not to mention sharing AAMI Park facilities with the Demons. As one of Australian soccer's hard men, Muscat has also been a successful manager in the A-League as well as overseas.

On Tuesday, after AFL.com.au had revealed Muscat's involvement in perhaps Essendon's biggest decision this century, Melbourne Victory commented on Instagram: "Don't worry lads, Musky will sort em out."

So who is Wardrop, a much more behind-the-scenes operator who spent more than 30 years at AFL clubs? 

His clubland story began at Richmond, where he worked as an opposition analyst when Kevin Bartlett was coach in the 1980s. He was then recruited to the Eagles under coach Mick Malthouse in the 1990s, before following Malthouse to Collingwood in the same role.

He was at the Pies until 2007 when Alastair Clarkson added Wardrop to his Hawthorn team, with the analyst and scout there throughout all of the Hawks' four flags in that period. 

In that time he worked closely with Adam Simpson, then an assistant coach at the Hawks, with Simpson poaching him back to the Eagles after the 2015 Grand Final loss. He stayed at the Eagles until 2020. 

His link to the Bombers comes through Craig Vozzo, who was football boss at the Eagles before joining Essendon as chief executive. 

Vozzo is now a sounding board for new Essendon CEO Tim Roberts, having developed a report on football department structure as well as overseeing some management of the Bombers' salary cap while scouting South Australian under-18 recruiting programs in his role at the Bombers since leaving last December. It's unclear whether Vozzo will return to Essendon on a full-time basis, other than that discussions about an executive head of football role have been held. 

"You don't simply replace people like John Wardrop," Vozzo told the West Coast website in 2020 when he was leaving the club. 

"John's record is remarkable over his time in the game, being involved in clubs that played in nine Grand Finals for six premierships."

Wardrop's role in the Essendon process will also see him speak with a former colleague in Graham, who was at the Eagles in 2018 as a member of the club's coaching panel. 

Similarly, Simpson is on the Carlton coaching panel and will also have a say on Graham's prospects, with the former Eagles ruckman on the final list for both jobs. 

"Jaymie's right up with Bevo, Simmo, Cameron – all those people," said Wardrop of Graham's credentials back in 2021 during Collingwood's coaching process that saw Graham finish second to Craig McRae. "He's 100 per cent authentic. He's a great listener." 

The concurrent nature of the rival searches, and Graham's overlap in both after fellow Blues contenders Corey Enright and James Kelly prioritised that role over Essendon's, adds an extra wrinkle to the coaching decisions. The Bombers are expected to have their new coach locked in within two weeks, with each of the candidates to do their secondary presentation to the club alongside their Muscat and Wardrop catch-ups.

Dean Solomon, the Bombers' interim, is deciding whether he pulls out of the running and steps away from the process before the second round of interviews. He is expected to forecast his intentions at Thursday morning's press conference.