Essendon prepared to wait on James Hird Bombers chairman Paul Little would be prepared to wait on James Hird should the embattled coach have to serve a suspension Source: Getty Images ESSENDON president Paul Little says the AFL club want James Hird to return as their coach if he serves a suspension as punishment for last year's supplements saga. Little said the Bombers, who are in negotiations with the AFL over their penalty, will attend a scheduled AFL Commission hearing on Monday. He is confident the league and the club are close to reaching a "middle ground" on penalties which both parties can accept, although he said he could not guarantee it would be achieved before the finals. The sanctions are likely to include the Bombers being stripped of premiership points and their finals berth and being fined heavily, as well as a ban for Hird. But Little would not confirm any of those details, saying he did not want to pre-empt the outcome. Asked if tonight's game against Carlton could be Hird's last in charge of the club, Little said he did not believe so. "I'm certain that that's not being requested at this stage, so I would say no to that," Little told the Seven Network pre-match. He said the Bombers would want Hird back in charge if he had to serve a 12-month ban. "Absolutely and that would be our preference," Little said. He said he did not want to answer on Hird's behalf as to what would be an appropriate sanction for the coach. Little also confirmed the AFL had given the club the option of accepting a penalty on their own behalf, while leaving Hird and club doctor Bruce Reid to battle the AFL separately, if they chose to. "At this stage all I can say to you is it is a package (being negotiated between the Bombers and the AFL) other than the option that's been given for James or Bruce Reid to opt out of that should they wish to," Little said. But we're trying very hard to get the package agreed. The Bombers, Hird, Reid, football manager Danny Corcoran and assistant coach Mark Thompson have all been charged by the AFL with bringing the game into disrepute. While Hird, who launched Supreme Court action against the AFL on Thursday, has remained publicly defiant throughout the investigation, Little said privately the coach was very remorseful. "I've spoken to him, he's spoken to the parents, we've seen that as a very private area of, I guess, him admitting remorse," Little said. But James is remorseful. I know that, and he's looking for an opportunity to actually express that. At this point in time, it's not going to be a five-second message out the front of his house. When it was put to Little that the process still dragging on with finals less than a fortnight away was damaging the competition, he said that was not all the Bombers' fault. He said the club's stance was that they were guilty of governance failures, not drug cheating, and were determined to ensure their sanctions reflected that. He said early in negotiations, the penalties suggested by the AFL were too severe, in the club's view. Little said while they were now close to agreement, he was not able to guarantee it would be resolved this week. "You've got to accept this is not just of the Essendon Football Club's making, this delay," he said. It takes two parties to cause a delay. I can't give any guarantees other than I accept it's in everyone's best interests. I accept that it's been damaging for the competition and the Essendon Football Club, not to mention our members and our supporters. We want it finished. That's our intention. In an odd move, Corcoran's name was crossed out on the Bombers' official team sheet for tonight's game, replaced by that of Steph Hird, the coach's daughter. "I think it's important that none of us lose our sense of humour," Little said of that move.