Nathan Buckley and Ken Hinkley are now the only coaches with AFL experience available to Melbourne after West Coast premiership winner Adam Simpson ruled himself out of being Simon Goodwin’s replacement at the Demons.
Days after former Sydney coach John Longmire shut the door on Melbourne, Simpson made the same decision without having even been contacted by the Demons.
Simpson, who was axed by West Coast in 2024 after taking the Eagles to the premiership in 2018, said he wasn’t ready to get back in the hot seat.
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“I don’t want to coach next year,” Simpson said on Monday.
“I think I’ll give it a spell. I was thinking through it over the weekend and I know ‘Horse’ (Longmire) has done the same thing.
“It just doesn’t feel like it’s the right time to be available. “They haven’t called me. And sometimes you wait for these things because you might think, ‘I’m not interested’, but then you get the phone call and you go, ‘Oh hang on, I’m wanted’, and then you sort of pivot in a different way.
“I’ve had a good think about it and I’m just not in the right headspace with it. I’m enjoying all this.
“It’s the same things that Horse (said) really. He’s a bit different, it’s only been eight months for him, it’s been a bit longer for me.”
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Simpson, who joined Fox Footy as an expert analyst in December last year, said he wasn’t ready to devote himself to the job of coaching.
“The passion to go through all the process, because once you get approached it’s turbo and you need to really be prepared,” he told SEN.
“I’m not really prepared and not in the right headspace.
“I’ll continue to do this (working as an analyst) if this is part of my brief next year. I feel like that’s the path I’m taking at the moment.”
Demons caretaker coach Troy Chaplin confirmed last week that he wouldn’t be applying for the full-time role, but Buckley, who guided Collingwood to the 2018 grand final, said there was a “compelling” case to listen should Melbourne officials come calling.
Hinkley, who is exiting Port Adelaide at the end of the season, has been linked to a role at Carlton but said he wouldn’t be thinking about his future “before Christmas”.
Simpson’s call could put Buckley, who has also been linked to the new Tasmanian team, in pole position ahead of a large cohort of AFL assistant coaches.
Melbourne is forming a panel that will included several key officials to find the next coach.
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