North Melbourne interim coach Rhyce Shaw happy for club to chase John Longmire for fulltime role

Interim North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw says he’s happy for the club to chase John Longmire, who he played under during his time in Sydney.

John Longmire is eyeing a new deal ... somewhere. Picture: Getty Images

North Melbourne caretaker coach Rhyce Shaw says he fully supports the Kangaroos making a play for Sydney coach John Longmire.

The Kangaroos have formalised their interest in the Swans’ premiership coach and Shaw backed the move, describing him as “one of the greats”.

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Shaw said the interest in Longmire did not put him in an awkward position as the club had to do what it needed to to find the best candidate for the job.

“I think it’s well within the club’s rights to look elsewhere and try and find the best coach for the footy club, they’d be silly not to,’’ Shaw said.

“John’s a fantastic coach, he coached me for seven years, I coached under him for three years and he is one of the greats.

“I’ve been lucky enough to see that first hand. Whatever the club thinks they need to do and go about it, I fully support.”

North Melbourne made a courtesy call to Sydney before making contact with Longmire’s camp.

The Herald Sun understands Kangaroos chairman Ben Buckley phoned Swans counterpart Andrew Pridham to notify them they would be making inquiries about their coach.

But the Swans have been resolute, with head of football Charlie Gardiner declaring Longmire a wanted man.

Rhyce Shaw and John Longmire worked together at Sydney.

“We will continue to focus on the things we can control. John is contracted for next year and we’re absolutely clear that we want him to continue as senior coach beyond next year,” Gardiner said.

“He is committed to the club and fully invested in developing our young team.”

Shaw said on Wednesday the discussion around Longmire was not a concern or distraction for the playing group.

“The boys are totally focus on what I am telling them at the moment and what direction we are going in.”

Shaw said the 5-8 Kangaroos, who meet Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, were starting to play the brand of football he had wanted.

The Kangaroos won three out of their past four matches leading into the bye.

Rhyce Shaw says he is happy for North Melbourne to chase John Longmire for its coaching vacancy. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

“We’ve started to play the type of footy that we wanted to just before the bye period,’’ Shaw said.

“People can identify with us and how we want to play. That’s my goal going into the second half of the year that we continue to play to those capabilities and strengths.”

Despite North formalising its interest and club greats Wayne Carey and Denis Pagan calling on the Roos to make a “Godfather offer”, Sydney has maintained it is “comfortable”.

Swans chief executive Tom Harley previously described Longmire as “a massive part of our future”.

“We have been — and continue to be — in constant dialogue with John and his management, and we’re comfortable with where those discussions are at,” Gardiner said.

“As we have said consistently, we’re not going to go into detail in relation to those discussions.”

Swans coach John Longmire enjoys a laugh with young forward Tom McCartin. Picture: Phil Hillyard

It’s understood Longmire’s manager Liam Pickering caught the Kangaroos off-guard with the revelation Buckley had sounded him out about Longmire.

“I’ve had a call from North. I’m not really that surprised that I’ve had a discussion, I thought it would come and I got a phone call from the president,” Pickering told SEN radio.

“He’s an ex-teammate of mine, we had a good old chinwag … just to say what’s going on and I told him what’s going on.

“It was just to have a discussion. I don’t know where it will end up. They just sounded me out.”

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North Melbourne chairman Ben Buckley is a former teammate of Longmire. Picture: AAP

The AFL Coaches Association recently failed in its push for an “anti-tampering policy” that aimed to regulate approaches to coaches.

Club CEO’s rejected the concept, despite it being endorsed by all 18 coaches.

“My only recommendation is the club call the other club first, as it looks to have happened with Longmire, so that the coach isn’t put in an uncomfortable position,” Brayshaw said.

“Then the club, like Sydney is entitled to go either way.”