ESSENDON has turned to legendary coach Kevin Sheedy to help lift itself out of its mire by making him a board member.

The four-time Essendon premiership coach will join the Bombers' board of directors next month, replacing outgoing director Katie Lio, who has announced her resignation.

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Sheedy, who has been working in the club's marketing department, will be formally ratified as a board member at its October 15 meeting.

The AFL Hall of Fame Legend will help support new coach Ben Rutten in the role but will not be involved in the "day-to-day" operations of the football department.

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 "My role is to support Sean Wellman as football director and along with Simon Madden, advise the board on football matters, that is my strength and that is what I will focus on," Sheedy said.

"I have more than 50 years of playing, coaching and football experience, and I will bring that to the board to assist with key football department decisions.

"It is as much about asking the right questions, as it is about anything else. Have we done this? Have we thought about that? These are the types of things I will want to bring to the board table.

"We have a good young coach who is going to need our full support, and with Sean Wellman, we are going to provide him with that support from the board to give him the best chance for success."

Sheedy coached Essendon for 635 games between 1981-2007 before taking on the job as the Giants' inaugural coach from 2012-13.

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He is the last coach to guide Essendon to a finals win, back in 2004. The Bombers finished 13th this season in John Worsfold's final year as coach.