The Brisbane Lions are reportedly seriously considering making a move for Nathan Buckley as they prepare for life after Chris Fagan.
Fagan stepped down as Brisbane coach after a thrilling seven-point Grand Final win over Fremantle clinched a rare premiership three-peat.
The 65-year-old had a year left on his deal at Brisbane but decided to leave on a high.
And now, AFL Media’s Damian Barrett revealed the Lions “are contemplating an approach” to Buckley after identifying him as a possible Fagan successor.
Buckley played the first season of his 15-year playing career at the Brisbane Bears before departing for Collingwood, where he would become a Pies legend.
Buckley has voiced his desire to again be a head coach and he is set to rival Lions head of football Danny Daly and assistant coach Cam Bruce for the Lions top job.
The Lions’ interest in Buckley comes after he withdrew from the race to become North Melbourne’s next senior coach.
Buckley, who is currently an assistant coach at Geelong, led the Magpies for 218 matches before stepping down.
And he recently revealed that his hunger to return as a head coach is well and truly back.
“I’ve determined 12 months ago that I’d love to senior coach again, and I love the role at Geelong,” Buckley said on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, speaking about the interest from North.
“I really respect the way North have handled this, and they’ve kept things really tight.”
Meanwhile, the Blues are said to be ready to swoop on Fagan, as he prepares to move back to Victoria to be closer to family.
Fagan made it clear he wants to remain in the football industry and possibly return to Melbourne, where he was previously an assistant under Neale Daniher at the Demons and served as GM of football and as a coaching mentor alongside Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn.
Those comments have prompted clubs such as Carlton to inquire about whether Fagan would serve in a role supporting Josh Fraser, who replaced Michael Voss as interim coach before being appointed Carlton’s full-time coach.
“When someone like Chris Fagan leaves his club and says he wants to come back to Melbourne, you’d be derelict in your duty if you weren’t open to what that might look like,” Carlton general manager of football Chris Davies said on Monday as the AFL Trade Period got underway.
“That’s not just Chris, that’s other people in the market as well. We’ve definitely got to put some support around Josh, what we think is the best support for Josh into the future and we’ll continue to work on that.”
Davies joked the Blues would consider giving up a first-round pick for Fagan.
Speaking on Kayo Sports’ Trading Day, 1988 Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy said: “Is Carlton about to land the biggest name of the trade period?
“I would be staggered, based on what Chris Davies said, if Carlton aren’t right at the front of the queue. And I reckon there’d be more than one club looking at Chris Fagan.
“He says he wants to work in footy. He doesn’t want to retire. Just doesn’t want to be head coach.
“You’ve got a young head coach at the Blues, there are other young coaches out there, which probably gives you an indication of who else is lining up.
“Fancy having the capacity to bring Chris Fagan into your program if you’re the Blues, with Josh Fraser coming into really his first full season.”
Former Hawks forward Ben Dixon said: “I was lucky enough to spend some time with Fages when he was at Hawthorn mentoring, nurturing and cooling down Clarko (Alastair Clarkson) at times.
“I think he’d be an amazing addition for Josh Fraser.”
The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph said Carlton could create a “bespoke role” for Fagan that doesn’t involve the rigours of the football manager job.
“The football boss role, it’s so important but it’s the worst role in football,” Ralph said.
“Because you have a million calls, you never turn your phone off, there’s always something you don’t expect. Is it a Neil Balme role, a big bopper, a coach’s coach.”
Fraser led Carlton to 12 wins, a draw and three losses as the Blues completely turned around their form in the second half of the season to qualify for the AFL’s wildcard round, in which they beat the Demons.
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