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'Perfect operator' still available as Demons narrow down coach search
Nicholas Quinlan • August 30th, 2025 4:46 pm
The SEN Crunch Time team has debated who they think should be the next Melbourne coach, based on the shortlist of candidates.
Since sacking their coach of nine seasons, Simon Goodwin, the Demons have been on the hunt for a new coach with the hope of announcing a coach before the Grand Final to ensure that whoever is selected can hit the ground running from the trade period onwards.
AFL.com.au’s Josh Gabelich provided an update on the situation, saying that Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra has officially confirmed that they have created a short list of six candidates for the position.
“He (Guerra) did confirm that the shortlist has been finalised,” Gabelich said on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“Still trying to work through who these names are, but what we do know is that Nathan Buckley, Hayden Skipworth, Corey Enright and Steven King are the names that they’ve met with.
“Brendon Lade is another one that they have met with, so expect him to be short-listed.
“Mitch Cleary reported that last night, Danny Daly has decided not to go through the process after being spoken to by the Demons.
“So again, Melbourne (is) looking to get a move on this now. They have spent the last fortnight meeting with up to 15 different assistant coaches just for informal catch-ups and coffees.
“But the plan is to have a senior coach appointed by Grand Final week at the latest.”
With Buckley being considered the favourite for the position but not having publicly said that he wants the job, Kane Cornes wants to see Buckley show a bit more interest if he does want to pursue it.
“Do we need to hear Bucks (Nathan Buckley) say I want to do it?” Cornes pondered.
“If I’m Melbourne, and maybe he is saying this privately. But all I’ve heard from Bucks is that ‘I’m considering it’ essentially paraphrasing here (and) ‘Not sure if it’s for me’.
“I would want a little bit more than that.”
While Adam Cooney thinks that the club could select Buckley or go down the assistant coach path, believing that King is the stand-out of the bunch.
“As long as they pick the right one, I think it is a win-win,” Cooney said.
“I think Nathan Buckley would be the No.1 seed. He would have learnt so much from his past and staying in the game. He’ll know what to do and the mistakes he made in the past, which will make him a better coach.
“If you wanted to go down the modern coach road, the younger coach, the inexperienced one who has had many, many years at AFL level, you’d probably look to the clubs who have had the most success.
“Steven King would be a great choice from everything I hear. I’ve spoken to Kingy a few times on air and off air about how much he’s learnt as an assistant coach when he was at the Bulldogs, to how they run the club at Geelong.
“If you want to look at a successful model and a coach that is going to come in and bring in that model to your footy club, Steven King would be the perfect operator.”
With the shortlist set, the coaching selection committee, which has Jobe Watson and Melbourne Storm Director of Football Frank Ponissi on it, will now conduct interviews with the candidates.
