Premiership Eagle Will Schofield has declared Jaymie Graham should be Essendon’s next senior coach and challenged the Bombers to hire someone from “outside the four walls” of the club.

Bombers caretaker Dean Solomon’s call to opt out of the race leaves Fremantle assistant Graham, Crows coaching director Murray Davis, Swans assistant Mark McVeigh and former coach James Hird as the finalists for the gig, with an appointment expected next week.

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Graham is the only candidate that advanced to the final round of interviews for both the Bombers and Blues vacancies.

And Schofield, who worked Graham with at the Eagles, says his former assistant coach should get the Essendon gig as the most qualified contender.

“Jaymie Graham should be the man getting this job,” Schofield said on Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.

“He’s an assistant coach at the best side in the competition. He’s run pretty close to a couple of senior coaching roles in his time including the Collingwood job.

“What he’s been able to do with Fremantle over a number of years and their forward line. You’d have to look at their development and the way they play as a pretty good forward line in the competition.

“And he’s taken charge of West Coast and Fremantle (as caretaker coach).”

Will Schofield says Jaymie Graham should be Essendon’s next coach (Photo by Sarah Reed via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

It comes after there’s been a groundswell of support for Hird to return to Essendon, while Solomon and McVeigh, like president Andrew Welsh, are also ex-Bombers players.

But Schofield questioned the notion of bringing back an Essendon person.

“I think (Graham’s) the man for the job, but it’ll probably go to someone connected with Essendon in some way shape or form. We’ll have to see if they have the rigour to go outside the four walls of the Essendon footy club,” he added.

“Because I don’t know if that’s been overly helpful over the last 25 years.”

The Bombers are 1-8 under Solomon including an average losing margin of 52 points to arguably go backwards since he replaced Brad Scott in May.

It came after Solomon moved from Essendon’s board to its coaching staff this year.

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“It was reported that he was the president’s man, he’d come off the board into the coaching staff, then into the interim seat,” Fox Footy AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley said.

“He took to the job wholeheartedly, the whole program, not just small targets within the team.

“But the losses mounted … there have been some hellish hidings in there and Solomon’s verdict is not to go for the gig.”

Melbourne legend Garry Lyon called Solomon “as good a football person as you’ll ever come across” that “wants the very best” for Essendon.

But Lyon noted the club’s dire record under Solomon’s lead — a complete contrast to Josh Fraser’s 9-2 Blues — made it “nigh on impossible” for the Essendon interim coach to be hired.

“I suspect he probably flirted with that being as the senior coach at some particular stage and others in the administration may have had that view as well,” Lyon said.

“But the record speaks for itself and it would’ve been nigh-on impossible to turn around and go: ‘We’re going to go ahead with you from here’.

“‘Solly’ will do what’s best for Essendon and that is an overwhelming character trait of his. Let’s hope everyone else involved in this process has a similar mindset.”