Adelaide, the other club in the coaching market, has an attractive playing list and stable administration, but is already performing well and is likely to lose a champion in Patrick Dangerfield; there is less immediate scope for rapid improvement. The next coach has a reasonably high pass mark in the short term. The end: James Hird addresses the media on Tuesday afternoon. Credit:Getty Images Carlton, who for 15 years have largely been terrible - aside from the brief, unsustainable rise under Brett Ratten - have a much steeper climb ahead than the Dons when you consider the state of the respective playing lists and underlying financial positions. If the Blues are further advanced in self-analysis and culture repair (and in finding a coach), their reconstruction is still a challenging long-term project. The next coach might not last long enough to see them contending. The Blues' best selling point to a coach will be that they know exactly where they stand and that they're willing to take the un-Carlton step of waiting. Some Essendon folk are understandably pessimistic, or worse, about their club - viewing the shambles of recent times, one former official told me the club was more than a decade from a potential premiership. They have seen ASADA-related chaos, millions in payouts and legal fees, appalling brand damage and the legal fallout from the injection regime might continue for a while.

But the underlying fundamentals of the Bombers - their fiscal position, supporter/membership base and playing list - are far stronger than their current state suggests. The Bombers' turnaround can be swift. In Buffett's terms, they are an underperforming, mismanaged company that has strong fundamentals. Essendon is probably the competition's greatest under-achiever in 2015, based on the capabilities of the playing list and club resources - though Port Adelaide and the wounded Suns, too, have been well below par. The Dons are not a bottom four team. They played finals last year under Mark Thompson and if and when the WADA saga ceases, they should have the clean air that James Hird's removal is intended to facilitate. The next coach's approach to the WADA issue must be to encourage the players to forget it completely. The incoming coach can express sympathy for the players' suffering, but also tell them, frankly, that their careers will be shaped by on-field performance, not WADA. He can tell them to put it aside, in a way Hird couldn't. Even if the players are found guilty on appeal, there is doubt that they would receive long suspensions, given the provisions for backdating and delays that were outside of their control. And, let's face it, there are only 17 players from a list of 45 who face that uncertainty; in time, that number will reduce further. Whereas Hird could not be disentangled from the ASADA wreckage, the new coach can simply focus on coaching and installing a workable game plan.

Essendon's list does have obvious holes. They lack quick midfielders, ground-level goalkickers and a ruckman. The midfield, overall, is thinning, given the ages of Jobe Watson, Brent Stanton and Brendon Goddard. But they have the key position planks - the bones - of a strong team, with Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker in defence and Joe Daniher in attack, Dyson Heppell on the ball. If the Dons had retained Josh Jenkins (Adelaide) - a small mistake in the scheme of things - they would have all the key position vertebra covered even if they lose Jake Carlisle. A prospective coach ought to be asking questions of the Bombers - for instance, who will succeed Paul Little as chairman and where the club's review is headed. Some of the board, clearly, should also leave as a matter of principle, given the mess over which they've presided. The doubt on the Dons - the major question - will be whether they are willing to remake themselves, to honestly appraise their shortcomings and redress them. Still, as terrible as they are today, as broken as they appear, the Bombers are a share that a canny coach would punt on.