Mark Thompson is expected to be announced on Thursday as Essendon’s interim coach.

The AFL club have called a media conference for 4pm (AEDT).

Bombers coach James Hird is serving an AFL suspension over last year’s supplements saga, which stretches until late August next year.

Thompson, Hird’s senior assistant, had initially expressed unwillingness to take over the job in Hird’s absence, citing a lack of hunger for a return to senior coaching.

But Thompson, who coached Geelong to the 2007 and 2009 premierships before quitting the club at the end of 2010, is reportedly now ready to take the job.

Thompson was fined $30,000 by the AFL for his part in the supplements scandal.

Hird has said he wants to return as coach on completion of his suspension, a move which Bombers chairman Paul Little has backed.

Earlier on Thursday, North Melbourne announced the appointment of Leigh Tudor as an assistant to Brad Scott.

The Kangaroos had previously forecast that appointment, but said they were waiting on the Bombers’ decision, as Tudor had been in contention for the Essendon senior coaching job.