AFL news: Latest on North Melbourne’s search for new coach to replace David Noble
If North Melbourne lands the biggest fish in the coaching pool, there could be significant financial stress after it was revealed the league is tightening the lid on any soft-cap exemptions.
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North Melbourne’s search for its next coach is gathering momentum as the club’s board look to finalise the process of finding a replacement for ousted coach David Noble.
The Kangaroos are understood to have four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson — who played 93 of his 134 AFL games with the club — at the head of their coaching wishlist.
Clarkson has made no secret of the fact he wants to coach next year.
He has already spoken to GWS about their vacant coaching role, while North Melbourne has him firmly in the frame for their position for 2023.
Any bid to install Clarkson as senior coach would come at a hefty price tag, which could run as high as $1.6 million a season.
That would take a significant amount of any club’s football department soft cap, with AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan saying the league won’t be providing any soft-cap exemptions.
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Clarkson’s 2023 intentions are not yet known, but president Dr Sonja Hood admitted on the weekend she had already spoken to the legendary coach’s manager James Henderson.
Former Saints and Dockers coach Ross Lyon is also another proven coach likely to come under consideration.
Lyon, on Wednesday night, said a return to AFL coaching had not been on his radar, but he would take a call “out of respect.”
“I am not canvassing (a coaching role) and they (North Melbourne) haven’t rung,” Lyon said on Nine’s Footy Classified.
“I understand why I would be linked because of past history.
“In a sense, it is gratifying that you are linked because we all have an ego but I’ve got no definitive position.”
As Dr Hood left the club on Wednesday night, she said the board was keen to appoint a senior football person to its coaching selection panel.
She said of the likely coaching candidates: “I’d like to speak to anyone who is going to take my footy club forward … we will work out who the best person is and we will talk to them.”
It comes as Geoff Walsh presented to the Kangaroos’ board late on Wednesday afternoon with some initial findings into his review of the club’s football operations.
Walsh detailed some of his observations to the board, but it is understood he still has some work to do to finalise the review which he undertook at the request of Dr Hood last month.
Dr Hood said: “Geoff gave us a verbal update on the work that he has done. He has done a fantastic job and we learnt an awful lot about our football department and our organisation.”
Part of the Kangaroos’ scheduled board meeting — which was followed by a coterie function — centred on the parameters to form for a coaching selection panel, which could be announced in coming days.
The club’s coaching panel will likely have a cross-section of people with various backgrounds and skill sets.
North Melbourne won its second game of the season last Saturday – in its first match under caretaker coach Leigh Adams – but it has not stopped the club’s quest for a priority pick and draft assistance.
North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio and head of strategy and legal James Gallagher met with AFL officials on Monday to begin informal talks over a request for assistance to help boost its on-field competitiveness after two disastrous seasons.
Why Bucks might be done as a coach
—Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Nathan Buckley has revealed he cannot see himself coaching at AFL level again.
A meeting with North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio has had Buckley heavily linked to the vacant Kangaroos job after they parted ways with David Noble.
But Buckley, who finished up as Collingwood coach last year, said it was highly unlikely he would return to coaching.
“No, it’s got nothing to do with the club,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“I can’t see myself coaching in the future.”
Buckley said he was enjoying his media role.
“There’s no burning ambition for me to get back into a football club,” he said.
“You try and assess it, how much you’re carrying. There always is a little bit of resentment around the pressure that is brought to bear.
“This is why I go into bat a little bit about ‘us’ as the media and the impact that we have on decisions or pressure and even performance.
“There’s no doubt that there is a weight and another hurdle that is created by the pressure that’s brought to bear from us in the media.
“I don’t enjoy that part of it.
“I enjoy helping young men be better versions of themselves. The winning and losing part, I love winning but I’m probably not as ruthless around winning and losing. It’s more about the development of individuals and the development of a group of people that I really enjoyed in the last four or five years.
“I’m definitely not in the space (to return).”
Lyon’s cryptic answer on coaching question
—Nick Smart
Ross Lyon has refused to shut the door on applying for the vacant North Melbourne coaching position, with the process to replace David Noble set to ramp up this week.
The news comes as Melbourne assistant Adem Yze confirmed he’ll present to the GWS Giants in a bid to become only the third senior coach in the club’s short history.
North Melbourne’s board is on Wednesday expected to confirm its process to find Noble’s successor.
It is understood the Roos would prefer to appoint an experienced senior coach to take over the rebuild after terminating the contracts of Brad Scott, Rhyce Shaw and Noble in recent years.
Lyon said on Sunday he would not confirm whether or not he was interested in the job, but added that “you always take a call”.
North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey and David King have both labelled Lyon the top candidate for the job after leading the Saints and Dockers to four grand finals.
“It’s gratifying that you get mentioned in dispatches (as a candidate), we’ve all got an ego and it’s nice recognition for years of hard work, I suppose,” Lyon said on Triple M.
“As I said, and I agree with Wayne (Carey), they need to canvass a wide range and speak to the Mark Williams (types), and they’re doing that.
“I’m a bit uncomfortable in my position as a media commentator, I’m not in a position to give you anything definitive.
“But if Adem Yze gets the opportunity, he should take that job. We saw it yesterday, there are some green shoots there (at North Melbourne)”.
Lyon was strongly considered for Carlton’s senior coaching job but pulled out of the race, leaving the Blues to appoint Michael Voss.
Lyon said the Roos showed some encouraging signs in their win over Richmond on Saturday at Marvel Stadium.
“It is exciting. I was really pleased (for them),” Lyon said.
“When you have been on your knees, I think they showed some real spirit and some instinctiveness and aggression in their defence and ball movement because they have beaten a quality team.”
The highly regarded Yze declared he would go through the process with the Giants while the Kangaroos will no doubt also want to speak to Yze as part of their search.
If the Roos do want to speak to Yze, they’ll need to get behind the Giants as the Demons assistant coach has already had an “initial discussion” with the expansion club.
“I’ve spoken to them and we’ve had an initial discussion at low level and whether I was keen to go and present, and I feel I will so that’ll happen later in the year,” Yze said.
Meanwhile, Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has categorically ruled himself out of a return to coaching next year.
Buckley and Kangaroos chief executive Ben Amarfio were photographed during a walk last Friday, sending social media into meltdown.
Speaking on Fox Footy, Buckley said he had been catching up with Amarfio every so often throughout the year.
“He did ask me if I wanted to coach next year, I said absolutely not, I’m not interested in coaching at all,” Buckley said.
“That was a very short part of our conversation on the walk and then we got onto business about how we were both going in our lives.”
Buckley, Roos chief talk coaching vacancy
—Glenn McFarlane
North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio caught up with his close friend Nathan Buckley for a walk on Friday, but the former Collingwood coach has no intention of coaching again next season.
A photo of the pair deep in conversation emerged on social media, heightening speculation the pair had been discussing the Kangaroos’ vacant senior coaching role.
But it is understood that while the club’s coaching search was briefly mentioned on the walk, Amarfio knew in advance that Buckley was unlikely to change his mind on his decision not to coach next year.
It comes three days after North Melbourne parted ways with David Noble after 38 games as senior coach.
The Kangaroos’ hunt for a replacement for Noble is already underway with the club hoping to soon name a coaching selection panel.
When contacted on Friday about his informal chat with Buckley, Amarfio told News Corp: “Nathan has zero interest in coaching. I knew that before our walk (on Friday).”
Amarfio and Buckley have been good friends for a number of years.
Buckley said recently: “I won’t be coaching next year.”
“Right now, having had the time out of the game and enjoyed the space that I’ve been in with Fox and SEN without the stress and pressure of coaching, I’ve actually really enjoyed myself and the situations I’ve found myself in.
“I don’t feel the need to bring that stress back into my life at this point.
“If I don’t have that in my heart then I can’t do it for myself first and foremost, but I wouldn’t be doing the right thing by an organisation walking in if you were three-quarters ready.
“I can’t see myself doing it next year.”
North Melbourne is one of two clubs chasing a new coach – along with Greater Western Sydney – with four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson believed to be near the top of the Kangaroos’ wish list.
Buckley led the Magpies as coach from 2012 to midway through last season, taking the club to a heartbreaking Grand Final loss in 2018.
Before that, the Kangaroos made a massive approach to Buckley – when he was in the media following his playing career – offering him their senior coaching position.
Former North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw said on Triple M in 2018 the club had “three or four meetings” with the Collingwood champion.
Asked if the job was Buckley’s if he had wanted it, Brayshaw said: “It was. 100 per cent.”
“He couldn’t have been more impressive, I was always confident he was going to make an unbelievable AFL coach.
“I also had a view that it may be better not being Collingwood to start with because of the enormous heritage he had at the place.
“So I just said, ‘Maybe you’re better off starting somewhere else and one day going back and coaching Collingwood mightn’t be a bad result’.
“Anyway he was just fantastic. In the end he said, ‘Look, it’s a very flattering offer, I would love to do it but I want to coach at Collingwood’.”
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