ESSENDON chairman Paul Little says his board will review James Hird's position as senior coach at season's end, one year before his contract expires. 

Emerging from a four-hour board meeting at the club's Tullamarine headquarters on Thursday night, Little acknowledged the club's challenging situation. 

"Our board meeting today was a standard meeting. We spent a lot of time on football of course but there was no undue focus on James or anyone else," he told Channel Nine. 

When asked if the club could have Hird head into 2016 with his contract up in the air, Little said: "The contract's in place, we'll have a review at the end of the year but at this point in time we've got a lot to be confident with and a lot of challenges."

Hird is suffering his worst season as coach – a win-loss record of 5-9 after at least 11 wins in each of his three seasons prior to 2015. 

Little also confirmed he would meet with the Victorian Government in coming weeks over the possibility of becoming chairman of the Australian Grand Prix board – a role he feels he can combine with the top job at Essendon. 

It comes as Channel Nine revealed the Court of Arbitration case into Essendon's 34 past and present players was set to extend into 2016.

The CAS has indicated it will not deal with the WADA appeal until after Stephen Dank, the man at the centre of the investigation, has all appeal options exhausted.

Dank is set to notify the AFL of his intentions to challenge the life ban handed to him last month - prior to Monday's 5pm deadline.