Craig Bird was overcome with an unfamiliar feeling two weekends ago.

For the first time in his AFL career he donned a red and black jumper, shaking his whirlwind move south from premiership teammates into a reality.

No longer would he carry the number forever etched in Sydney folklore by club captains and Brownlow medallists Bob Skilton and Paul Kelly.

“It was a bit strange putting on the Essendon colours,” Bird told foxsports.com.au.

“(At Sydney) I wore No. 14, which past champions have worn and it didn’t come easy to leave, but I think it was best for my personal football.

“I needed a bit of a change, I wasn’t enjoying my football too much last year, I had a lot of injuries and I think I needed something different.”

Bird was sent to the Bombers at the eleventh hour of last year’s trade period, after eight years, 137 games and one premiership at the Swans.

Disappointed, but not begrudged, he agreed to a change of scenery with one year remaining on his contract, facilitating Jake Carlisle’s trade to St Kilda.

“It was a bit rushed because it was only a couple of days before the end of the trade period,” Bird said.

“Essendon was more keen to get me down than Sydney were to keep me. They may have had questions over whether I could get over the injuries I had in the last few years.”

But the club Bird agreed to join is sizeably different to the one he now plays for — at least in terms of personnel.

Out are the likes of Jobe Watson, Cale Hooker, Dyson Heppell and Michael Hurley. And in are replacements, headlined by Ryan Crowley, James Kelly and Mathew Stokes.

Bird said he knew the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) finding was still pending when he joined the club, but that he hadn’t turned his mind to the potential ramifications for the players.

So when 12 of his new teammates were suspended, Bird said he was caught unaware. The players he’d only just started to form relationships with were banned from even stepping foot into the club.

“Everyone was pretty flat after the decision, it was a pretty weird feeling to be honest,” Bird said.

“But once we started bringing in these more experienced guys you could tell the morale around the club started to lift a bit.

“Even just having a full team at training has helped a lot.”

When he was traded to Essendon, Bird was the only premiership player listed at the club.

But now that number has increased threefold, with Geelong champions James Kelly and Mathew Stokes and Hawthorn premiership player Jonathan Simpkin signing for the season.

It’s a melting pot of players searching for redemption, searching for a second AFL lifeline and some who appear to be doing some kind of philanthropic work as they’re asked to fill a void for just one more season.

There’s a certain level of unpredictability about the matrix of the team, perhaps best encapsulated by their comprehensive win against Carlton, which was succeeded by a comprehensive belting at the hands of Geelong only six days later.

Previously at one of the AFL’s most consistent performers, it’s a realm unfamiliar to Bird.

Craig Bird tasted the ultimate success in 2012, winning the premiership.Source: News Limited

Indeed, at Bird’s eight seasons at the Swans, the club only missed finals once. He’s used to a certain level of success and the player driven standards that he says are a corollary of a winning culture.

He learned the importance of accountability from Brett Kirk and Jude Bolton when he was drafted in 2007 and was still having that same message drummed into him by Jarrad McVeigh, Kieran Jack and Adam Goodes in 2015.

Now he says it’s up to him, among others, to help drive those standards at Essendon.

“I learnt a lot up in Sydney because we had some really strong leaders and it’s a pretty well run club,” Bird said.

“I’ve tried to bring a little bit down to Essendon, some of my knowledge and things I’ve picked up over the years, things that can help.

“Sydney’s one of the more professional teams that drive really high standards, they’ve got strong leaders who drive the group and I want to help push the young guys along and keep challenging the older guys.”

In one sense, Bird isn’t an anomaly at the Bombers because he’s one of 22 new faces at the club this season. But his pathway to the club makes him the only new player who is neither a top up nor a draftee.

A fringe player at the Swans in 2015, Bird appears destined to feature in all of Essendon’s games this year. His resume dictates that he must.

As a hard in an under premiership player, he brings experience to a club that is calling out for leadership. And he wants to help in any way that he can.

“I wouldn’t say the situations benefits me, but it’s probably more of an opportunity for me to develop my game and leadership,” Bird said.

“Losing a lot of senior players, I’m now one of the more senior players there. I’ve found over the last month or so that a lot of the younger guys are turning to some of us older blokes.

“It’s going to be a bit of a hard year I guess with the numbers we’ve got and the players we’ve got out. I think a few of us are going to have to really step up.”