Dogs court Tiger champion

Wayne Campbell is seen as hot favourite for the head of football position with the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun

RICHMOND concedes it is a strong chance to lose Tigers Hall of Famer Wayne Campbell as the new Bulldogs head of football.

Campbell is seen as hot favourite for the role vacated by incoming Hawthorn head of football James Fantasia.

North Melbourne's Cameron Joyce is also a contender for the role, with the Dogs vowing to beef up salary cap and football department spending.

There are as many as four clubs now in the market for a head of football, with Melbourne making an appointment one of its top priorities under chief executive Peter Jackson's restructure.

Campbell spent several years as an assistant at Whitten Oval, and now splits his time between the Tigers' leadership program, opposition analysis, and work with the VFL team.

It means he is a rising star of football administration, and would be likely to be heavily courted by rival clubs with vacant roles if the missed the Dogs' job.

North Melbourne is also in the market for a footy boss, given football manager Donald McDonald will step sideways with the introduction next year of son Luke to the club's playing list.

North is weighing up elevating list manager Joyce and development manager Jon Haines to enhanced roles, or searching outside.

Essendon, too, will have to consider the make-up of its football department, which could see it in the market for a new head of football.

The lack of a clear chain of command was seen as one of the club's major failings during last year's supplements scandal, with Steve Alessio hired as the Bombers' football operations manager in January.

Danny Corcoran, one of a number of Essendon officials under pressure in the ASADA-AFL investigation, has the title of general manager of football operations.

Geelong's head of football Neil Balme has ruled himself out of a move back to the Demons, with Collingwood's Geoff Walsh also staying put.

Geelong's team performance manager Steve Hocking has been a target of rival clubs but insists he is happy at Simonds Stadium.