Lloyd, at the time, was the Hawks' sports psychologist, striking the right balance between the theory of his craft and the unique day-to-day battles and uncertainties an elite footballer in Melbourne faced.

He was also, at the time, an assistant coach with VFL feeder club, Box Hill, and had tasted premiership success with Williamstown. He had played under-19s and one game in the reserves for the Blues in 1988-89.

"He understood the players at Hawthorn and wasn't looking at it purely from a psychological perspective because he had played the game, and his brother [Essendon great Matthew] was playing at the highest level. He knew the demands of the game and accepted that," Holland recalled.

"What he was able to do was remain a little independent. Psychs are employed by the club, and therefore you are worried about what they have to feed back to the club. But he was able to maintain that balance."

Holland remembers Lloyd having a major impact on then enigmatic forward, Mark Williams.

"It's all about relationships and getting the most out of people ... there was a noticeable turnaround in some of them. One player, in particular, who comes to mind is Mark Williams," he said.

"Mark Williams had all that potential but it wasn't realised until he probably started working with Simon. He came out and was Hawthorn's leading goal-kicker in the space of a couple of years."

Lloyd had six years with the Hawks, before shifting to Collingwood in 2005. He was the Magpies' high-performance manager and psychologist for four years, before heading to Fremantle and taking charge of their development academy in 2009.

Working with another brother Brad, who is the Dockers' list manager, his development work is said by observers to be "elite" – and just what the Blues would require. He was appointed an assistant coach in late 2010 to then Dockers coach Mark Harvey, while retaining the development program.

Blues coaching subcommittee member Ken Sheldon met with Dockers coach Ross Lyon in Perth on Monday, with speculation that their discussion, at least in part, involved whether Lloyd was a suitable applicant. He shapes as an ideal candidate for the rebuilding Blues, despite not having played at the highest level.

"That puts him in a unique position and could work in his favour as guys like [Blues subcommittee member] Ange Postecoglou won't mind that at all," one observer noted.

That was reinforced at a recent gathering of the nine assistant coaches completing the official level-four AFL course when guest speaker, and former first-class cricketer and hockey great, Ric Charlesworth, said a stellar playing career mattered little when it came to the hotbed that is senior coaching.

The indications are the Blues are after a "thinking man's" coach. Lloyd, 45, has the psychological background, understands the finer details of fitness, is said to be process driven – which the Blues have declared they will be in a list rebuild using analytics – while Lloyd is also said to be strong tactically. That he has worked shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Lyon, arguably the league's greatest tactical mind, can only work in his favour.

He would also have time to mature into the role through what list manager Steve Silvagni has said would be a 66-game rebuild.

Another observer noted he has a "very good demeanour and is friendly" and, like Phil Walsh before his profile expanded upon becoming Adelaide Crows coach, "has done his best work behind closed doors with a minimum of fuss".

However, there will be other strong candidates, including John Barker, the Blues' caretaker coach and a man whose relationship skills were acknowledged by Holland, who was a teammate at Hawthorn.

Other candidates could be current senior coaches – one name in particular keeps bobbing up – and possibly others among those completing the official coaching course. These could include Swans assistant Stuart Dew, Geelong's Blake Caracella, St Kilda's Adam Kingsley and Collingwood's Robert Harvey.

However, Lloyd is the most experienced of those inductees, and that would appeal to the Blues, another observer noted.

"He is very well educated and has been around the block. A lot of those others in that course haven't experienced what the job really involves," he said.

Another industry figure with knowledge of some of the potential candidates felt the Blues' job would be a "monumental challenge" and would be a "rude awakening" for a younger candidate such as Dew.

Intriguingly, Lloyd has his Essendon home up for sale. Would that suggest he knows something we don't?