ESSENDON coach James Hird has welcomed a review into the club's football department, although he admits he is "nervous" by how the club's lack of success in 2015 will impact on his own future.

The Bombers announced the review on Thursday evening, with club legend Neale Daniher to act as an external consultant during the process.



Dons call on Daniher for full-scale review

"The thing that makes me nervous is that we've won five games. The fact is you win five games when you expect to do better," Hird said at Tullamarine on Friday.

"That's going to put pressure on everyone."

However, he believes the review is necessary as the Bombers figure what has gone wrong in 2015.

"Anytime you're underperforming, it's important to review and see where you can get better," Hird said.

It is expected all areas of the football department will come under heavy scrutiny, including the positions of Neil Craig and Rob Kerr who share duties as heads of the football program.

But Hird does not expect wholesale changes out of the review.



Hird's game of truth or dare

"I wouldn't have thought so. I'm not the person doing the review and I don't want to undermine the integrity of it," he said.

"There's a few areas we want to get better at to go up the ladder, so we'll wait and see how that comes about."

Adding to the distractions surrounding the club, the World Anti-Doping Agency believes it has revealed new evidence in the supplements saga that enveloped the club in 2012.

WADA said higher than expected levels of thymosin beta-4 had been found in samples provided by players from the club's 2012 list, a claim Essendon has rejected.



Essendon plays down WADA’s TB4 claim

Hird had a similar sentiment to CEO Xavier Campbell who said on Thursday that he was disappointed by confidential information leaking out.

"The thing that is the distraction is that confidential information leaks out," Hird said.

"It shouldn't leak out from reputable organisations.

"It shouldn't happen and that's the disappointing thing."

Asked whom he suspected leaked the information, Hird was fairly pointed.

"I don't know where it came from. I'd be very disappointed if it came from this organisation, I doubt that," he said.

"There's only a handful of people or other organisations who have that information."

“We’re hoping we can get him up for the last couple of games, but we’ll wait and see.” - James Hird on Fletcher pic.twitter.com/6ymq193NQu — Ben Guthrie (@AFL_BenGuthrie) August 7, 2015

Essendon will face Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium on Sunday, with midfielder Heath Hocking in for his first game of the season after a horror run with injury.

"It's outstanding for Heath," Hird said. "He's had a really unfortunate season, as a result of the groin soreness he had last year."

Hird revealed veteran Bomber Paul Chapman has had a setback, after experiencing back spasms earlier this week, but is hopeful he will be fit to play VFL this weekend.

And the Bombers are not putting a line through Dustin Fletcher, who will build his workload this week and hopefully be fit enough to play the final couple of games of the season.

Dustin Fletcher joined teammates for a light run on Friday at Tullamarine. Picture: Getty Images

