Melbourne Demons to sound out Essendon interim coach Mark Thompson as potential successor for Paul Roos

MELBOURNE is planning to sit down with Paul Roos mid-year and chew the fat. He will be asked about his plans for the future.

EXCLUSIVE: MELBOURNE is planning to sit down with Paul Roos mid-year and chew the fat.

He will be asked about this year and next and, more to the point, the year after that and if he’s ready to commit to that third year.

We know 2016 is an option for Roos and while the Demons aren’t desperate for an answer, they would like some clarity as they plan ahead.

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Despite hysterical urgings from some in the commentariate that Roos must commit or not to 2016 — he was just four games into his second coming when it started — the Demons have not addressed the issue with their coach.

That time is looming.

In the meantime, the Demons have given Roos room to breathe.

Just as chief executive Peter Jackson found the football club worse than he imagined when he started in April, 2013, so did Roos when he accepted the coaching position for an estimated $1 million-$1.5 million per season.

In January, he spoke of the players being “scarred’’ from campaigns previous and that didn’t change in the first few weeks of the season when the Demons kicked six, four and seven goals in each of their first three rounds

Roos’ two-year contract can be extended for a further season. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Roos was probably asking himself what had he got himself into, especially so after the excitement of having a potential big-man forward line of Clark-Dawes-Hogan became Dawes alone.

His outlook has changed as his players responded and there’s a sense of calmness about the club. Not contentedness or accomplishment, but clearly direction and confidence has been found.

Now, to the coaching situation.

The Demons would like a successor in place at the end of the season and we can reveal today the Demons will talk to interim Essendon coach Mark Thompson.

They’ll also look at former coaches such as Michael Voss and Brett Ratten, and even Mark Harvey, and of course they’re waiting in line to learn if Geelong’s premiership captain Cameron Ling wants to coach. Those familiar with Ling’s thinking says he does.

Thompson hasn’t so much emerged as a candidate, but he is an obvious one.

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He opened the door about the possibility of coaching elsewhere in an interview with the Herald Sun in March and the Demons are interested.

Roos and Thompson barely knew each other before this season — it’s believed one of their last conversations before this year was an argument over Shane Mumford’s move from Geelong to Sydney — but their relationship has certainly strengthened via their TV commitments on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

The two share a hugely popular segment together and they also share football knowledge off camera, and in their company the respect they have for each other is ever present.

Yes, Thompson is quirky and sometimes erratic against Roos’ cool demeanour, yet they share the same passion: Football.

If Roos only wants to coach next year then Thompson would be an ideal replacement.

The Demons could speak to Essendon coach Mark Thompson. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

The Essendon coach is contracted until the end of the year and although exiled coach James Hird will move heaven and earth to keep him as an assistant in 2015, the possibility of Thompson coaching his own team _ and the lure of, say, $1 million a season _ would give him something to consider.

While Roos would coach next year, Thompson could easily take a role as a development/education coach under Roos with the clear mandate he would coach in 2016.

A Roos-Thompson quinella might seem pie in the sky, but under Jackson and new chairman Glen Bartlett, Melbourne has shown itself to be a club determined to think big.

Of course, it all depends on whether Roos wants the third year and the gut feel says he will take it.

If he doesn’t, Jackson will talk to Thompson. And as Roos found with Jackson in his dealings, Jackson finds it difficult to accept no for an answer.

Thompson could well walk away from football altogether at the end of the year and if that happened, Jackson will turn his attention to Ling.

A Roos-Ling quinella is a ticket of substance. A Roos-Thompson ticket would be something else.