Bombers assistant Blake Caracella, a member of the club's 2000 premiership side, has hoped to be a senior coach in the AFL for many years now and soon hopes to get his wish.
With Essendon senior coach Ben Rutten out for Round 4 through the league's health and safety protocols, the club will see Caracella act as a stand-in coach for the game against Adelaide.
With the news, it has become apparent that Caracella is after a senior position, stating that "it's on my radar now".
Speaking on Friday, the Essendon champion spoke on his hopes of taking the next step in his coaching career, having first enjoyed coaching capacities with Collingwood under great Mick Malthouse.
"Iโve been coaching for 15 years," he said.
โI kind of fell into coaching when I broke my neck way back (playing for Collingwood) in 2007.
โMick (Malthouse) gave me a chance to coach the forward line and through that journey I have had a lot of experience coaching in some good environments, (and) I think with that experience, confidence and belief that I can do the job.โ
Caracella, who has been an assistant coach for 15 years and has had prior experience at Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond, stated his past mentors have had a great impact on his multiple tenures within the AFL landscape.
"Fifteen years is a long time and I've matured as a person and I've learnt along the way," Caracella continued.
โI fell into coaching and didnโt really know if I wanted to do the senior job but obviously the last four, five, six years Iโve really enjoyed the demands of the job.
โIโve watched Chris Scott, Damien Hardwick and Ben Rutten and been lucky enough to have some good mentors.
โIโm looking forward to the challenge ahead but really, to me, Essendon this week is the most important thing."
Caracella will lead Essendon against Adelaide on Sunday at Marvel Stadium.
