FORMER Hawthorn midfielder Brad Sewell will help Essendon find its new coach after the premiership player was named on the club's five-person subcommittee.

Sewell, who is now a member of the AFL's Match Review Panel, will team up with Essendon heavyweights to find James Hird's replacement with an announcement expected in October.

Sewell, who played 10 games last year before retiring, will join club chief executive Xavier Campbell and football director Chris Heffernan as part of the appointment process.

Lisa Lawry, the club's general manager of people and culture, and club great Neale Daniher make up the rest of the group.

Daniher is also helping the club in its football department review, and is understood to have been conducting interviews last Friday.

Campbell said the club wanted a cross-section of the football industry to help select its new coach.

"This is a particularly important decision for the football club," Campbell said.

"The process will take several weeks, and will conclude with the board's endorsement of the successful candidate."

The Bombers will also "consult" a number of internal and external figures throughout the recruitment process, with Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy understood to be possibly involved in that area.

Hird departed the Bombers two weeks ago after the Bombers' 112-point loss to Adelaide.

The Bombers' target of appointing a new coach in October appears likely to fall after the trade and free agency period but will come before November's NAB AFL Draft.