Geelong assistant Nathan Buckley met this week with the Tassie Devils coaching selection panel as the club looks to fill the position by the end of the season.
It was the first time the four-person panel, consisting of Devils chair Grant O’Brien, CEO Brendon Gale, people and culture manager Lauren Jauncey and football director Alastair Lynch, had sat as a group to interview a prospective coach.
Three competition sources confirmed the catch-up was the start of a formal process which has months to run.
Gale has been open about the need for the senior coach to be experienced, with Sydney Swans’ premiership coach John Longmire and long-serving Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley the other star-studded candidates for the important role as the Tassie Devils prepare to enter the AFL in 2028.
The Devils’ panel is yet to speak formally to Longmire or Hinkley, but the duo are expected to be part of the process.
Buckley, a Collingwood great, returned from a stint in the media to become an assistant coach at Geelong this season where he has impressed as the midfield coach.
It was his first foray back into coaching within a club after his 10-year stint as Collingwood senior coach. He coached the Magpies to within a kick of winning the 2018 premiership and also led them to preliminary finals in 2012 and 2019.
Hinkley finished coaching Port Adelaide at the end of last season with a winning percentage of 59.6 while Longmire ended his time at the Swans at the end of 2024 with a winning percentage of 62.4 per cent. Longmire coached the team to five grand finals, including the flag win of 2012.
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