Neil Craig said Essendon’s rich history was a key factor behind his move to the club.

“The club is an attraction to people involved in football,” Craig said.

“Essendon is one of the great clubs of the AFL. It has a fantastic history, is highly successful and is a power club.

“It’s about the enormity and the history of the club. Now, it is pretty clear where we want to go and the vision we have. I wanted to be a part of that.

“It was a tough year for the club, but the supporters hung in there, and so to the sponsors, who continued to support the club so it definitely says something positive about the club. Now, it is a really exciting period to be involved in, and I am really thrilled to be a part of it.”

Craig was officially unveiled as Essendon’s Head of Coaching Development and Strategy at yesterday’s media conference, with Mark Thompson assigned to take on the senior coaching role for 2014.

Craig said he was looking forward to working closely with ‘Bomber’.

“My role is about working strongly and closely with the coaches and giving Mark support when he needs it,” Craig said.

“I will be working in the Essendon way and also working closely with the development coaches.

“We have coached against each other in the past, but I didn’t know Mark overly well. But it was a great first meeting with him at the club and I left that meeting feeling really comfortable that it will be a strong working relationship between us.”

The former Adelaide coach has most recently spent two years at Melbourne in a similar coaching development role.

“I spent two years at Melbourne in a similar coaching development role, so I’ll bring some learning’s and some wisdom here,” Craig said.

“The role is really starting to evolve in a lot of clubs at the moment because of the growth of football departments which is really important.”