North Melbourne to offer John Longmire deal that hands him leverage for Sydney extension
John Longmire might be happy in his position as Sydney coach but that doesn’t mean an “unbelievable” deal isn’t coming from North Melbourne for him to take over as coach.
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Former Roos great Wayne Carey says North Melbourne will offer John Longmire a deal that if he accepted, would make him the highest-paid coach in football.
Longmire is expected to sign a new deal with Sydney in coming months, and close friend Paul Roos said on Friday he would be “staggered” if he left the club.
The Sydney premiership coach was at North Melbourne’s 1999 premiership reunion on Saturday alongside Roos powerbroker Glenn Archer.
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The North Melbourne offer has more chance of providing Longmire with financial leverage at Sydney than luring him south but Carey said it would soon land on his desk.
“It is quite ironic it was at that time, with all of this stuff going on, Arch was there — everyone had a chat to him about it,’’ Carey told Triple M.
“(Longmire) didn’t give too much way but the one thing I do know, he has been an unbelievably successful coach at Sydney and he’s very happy in Sydney, but I do believe that he will get an unbelievable offer to leave Sydney.
“It’s whether he weighs it up at all but the offer is coming. He would get some kind of offer that would make him the highest paid coach in the competition.”
The league’s best-paid coaches are on less than $1.5 million a season, with Paul Roos’ extraordinary deal worth more than that figure a one-off given Melbourne’s parlous position.
Clubs have football department caps that prevent exorbitant wages, with former AFL Coaches Association boss Danny Frawley last year proposing an exemption to reward elite senior coaches.
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