It will be business as usual at Essendon on the field under interim coach Mark Thompson as he fills the chair for suspended coach James Hird in 2014.

Thompson told Bomber supporters at Monday night's annual general meeting that the club had improved its defence in the past three seasons and just needed to continue to build a more consistent outfit.

"Nothing much will change," Thompson said. "I know the system, I know how to coach."

Essendon conceded 2217 points in its first year under Hird, finishing with a percentage of exactly 100. In 2012 it conceded 2090 points (100.05 per cent), while last year its opponents scored 2000 points and its percentage increased to 107.25.

It was ranked 10th in the competition for points against.

The Bombers would have finished seventh on the ladder after 22 rounds had they not been banned from finals and relegated to ninth as a result of the investigation into the club's 2012 supplements program.

Despite draft penalties the club gained former Cat premiership player Paul Chapman through free agency and traded in Kurt Aylett and Shaun Edwards from Greater Western Sydney.

It lost key forward Stewart Crameri to the Bulldogs but has huge expectations for Joe Daniher.

The club also appointed Neil Craig and Nathan Bassett to its coaching structure.

"We're just going to carry on," Thompson said. "That is what we are going to do as a footy department."

Thompson, who coached Geelong to two premierships, said he was confident the club had the right people in place to improve.

"We're going to continue to work the players … the best thing about this club is that the young boys are fantastic young people.

"We haven't done everything right but there has been a lot of things we have done right, and we're just going to continue to build and to be better and better and better until we become a very consistently good team."

Chapman, 32, told supporters one of the aspects of Essendon that made it attractive to him was the resilience he saw the playing group display under pressure during 2013.

The veteran played 251 games and kicked 336 goals in a glittering career at Geelong, winning three premierships in his 14 years at the Cats.