On the same day that his old job at Melbourne was made redundant, which led to him being paid out for the last year of his contract with the Demons, Craig signed a two-year deal with the Bombers.
He will initially work with interim coach Mark Thompson, before beginning to mentor Hird when he returns to work in the lead-up to the 2015 season.
"Just by my own due diligence, if you like, I've had a conversation with James," Craig told a press conference at Windy Hill on Thursday evening.
"First of all, just about his general wellbeing, because he's been through a really tough period.
"But it was more about a general football philosophy, and it made sense to do that, because James is coming back in 2015.
Hird may spend 2014 overseas
"It would be absolutely stupid for someone in this role to be poles apart, and we're not, just as Mark and I are not poles apart.
"We do have some different opinions, and you would want that and expect that, but we're not poles apart, and so that dialogue has occurred."
Craig's comments contradicted the line offered by Essendon chairman Paul Little, who earlier in the press conference said: "James Hird was not involved in the process of the two appointments that have been made."
Nevertheless, the Bombers have pledged to keep Hird at arm's length from their Thompson-led football program next season.
"We're not going to break any rules here," Thompson said. "We're going to play by the rules, and James is okay with that.
"It's not that we're not going to talk to him. We're allowed to be friends, but James won't have any active involvement in how the team's going."
Thompson won't be making wholesale changes to the program that he and Hird have overseen since they returned to the club for the 2011 season.
"We've done it together," he said. "We're in great shape as far as a lot of things we've done over a three-year period.
"We're not going to redo it, and that was really important that it wasn't going to be redone.
"I've been part of it for three years, and it's just going to be added to by Neil's experience and his work and by Simon (Goodwin).
"We're going to sit down and just keep up with the game."
An intriguing issue is whether Thompson will find it hard to walk away from the senior coaching position after one season.
"We'll just have to wait and see," he said. "I know that I definitely want to do it for myself. I think I was the best person to do it for the transition phase.
"(The players) know that I'm there for 2014, and then at the end of that year Craigy's still going to be around, Simon Goodwin's still going to be around, Hirdy's going to be back, and then we'll discuss what I'm going to do.
"And I'm not sure what that is."
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Thompson will endeavour to talk forward Stewart Crameri, who is seeking a trade to the Western Bulldogs, into staying at Essendon.
"We will try," he said. "We don’t want to lose a quality player. We don't want to lose any of our quality players.
"It looks unlikely (that he'll stay). In return, we're going to have lots of meetings to talk about how we go about getting the best deal we can for the Bombers."
Paul Chapman, who played the majority of his career at Geelong under the guidance of Thompson, also remains on the Bombers' radar.
"Yeah, he's one to consider," Thompson said.
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
Thompson will endeavour to talk forward Stewart Crameri, who is seeking a trade to the Western Bulldogs, into staying at Essendon.
"We will try," he said. "We don’t want to lose a quality player. We don't want to lose any of our quality players.
"It looks unlikely (that he'll stay). In return, we're going to have lots of meetings to talk about how we go about getting the best deal we can for the Bombers."
Paul Chapman, who played the majority of his career at Geelong under the guidance of Thompson, also remains on the Bombers' radar.
"Yeah, he's one to consider," Thompson said.
Essendon has also been talking to former Adelaide defender Nathan Bassett about joining the club as a line coach.
Bassett recently led SANFL club Norwood to its second successive premiership.
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
