After initially saying they would announce their next head coach towards the end of the finals series, Melbourne jumped during semi final week and unveiled Steven King.
That development arrived despite veteran coach Nathan Buckley asking for a few more days to get his head around whether he wanted the job, or whether he would hold out to be in the mix for the inaugural Tassie Devils position.
Given their initial timeline was preliminary final or grand final week, veteran AFL journalist Damien Barrett isn’t sure why Melbourne simply didn’t give Buckley the days he needed.
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Nathan Buckley embraces Jamie Elliott during the 2025 season. via Getty Images
“Initially the timeline on the Melbourne process was grand final week. They brought it forward to prelim final week, Buckley asked for Tuesday this week to get his head around the Tassie offer,” Barrett told Nine’s Footy Classified.
“There is no licence for Brendon Gale to offer Nathan Buckley. There’s no contract. There’s nothing to sign. I’m intrigued by this.
“There’s a bit of retrofitting to what happened last week and they’ve all presented in a way that is believable, but they’re not all going to be 100 per cent factually truthful.
“Something doesn’t quite wash on how the Melbourne process played out.”
The Dees coaching search came down to King, Buckley, Brendon Lade, James Kelly and Daniel Giansiracusa, but was seemingly narrowed to a battle between King and Buckley after final interviews.
Buckley is meeting with Tassie Devils CEO Brendon Gale this week and wished to have that chat before committing fully to the Melbourne role.
The Brownlow Medallist understands why that decision may have led to the Dees appointing King over waiting for his answer.
“I said (to Melbourne) ‘Can I have a couple more days’ and that was enough for them to say ‘No, no, we’ve got our guy, we’re not going to wait’. I’m fine with that,” Buckley told Fox Footy on Monday night.
“I put myself in Melbourne’s shoes and you’ve come down to two guys. One that says he’s absolutely keen … and the other guy says ‘Can you just wait a few days’. I think it was a really easy decision for Melbourne.”
Nathan Buckley at the 2024 Brownlow Medal. AFL Photos via Getty Images
The former Collingwood coach said he ultimately made the call that he would rather be in the mix for a coaching job that might not actually eventuate if the Tassie team falls over, than take the Dees job right in front of him.
“I only know my side of it. I had to risk sacrificing an opportunity to coach Melbourne, to keep an opportunity to coach Tasmania, because the timelines just didn’t match up,” Buckley told Fox Footy.
“And Melbourne rightfully made the decision on a coach that absolutely was all-in and wanted to do the job. They’ve made very much the right call.
“I am more attracted to the Tasmania job than I was to the Melbourne job.”
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Buckley explained why the Devils job is so alluring to him.
“The opportunity to build something from scratch is something that doesn’t come around that often,” Buckley said.
“And prosecuting the Melbourne case and where I sit in my coaching career, I do want to coach again, and I hadn’t been able to say that until probably about a month ago.
“I’d love to be involved in the Tassie process and that journey.”
Cats assistant coach Steven King. Getty
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd doesn’t see it as particularly complicated. He feels that Buckley’s AFL-level coaching experience doesn’t inherently make him a better coach than someone like King, who has been an assistant coach for 15 years.
“I don’t agree with that. For example, Ross Lyon could have been available for the Collingwood job at the time, or anybody, but you’re up against Craig McRae,” Lloyd said.
“Just because you’ve coached before doesn’t mean you’re better than the person who has been in the system for 10 or 20 years.
“Adam Kingsley’s doing a pretty good job at GWS. Just because you’ve coached before, doesn’t put you above (untried candidates) unless you’ve won three premierships like a Damien Hardwick.”
Conversations surrounding the Tassie Devils will ramp back up in the coming weeks, with the Tasmanian Planning Commission set to release its final report on the Hobart stadium on Wednesday, which will include a recommendation on whether to build the stadium.
The AFL remains firm. If the 23,000 seat roofed venue at Macquarie Point isn’t built, they won’t approve the Devils’ license to join the competition.
Which, naturally, would remove the need for a senior coach as well.