PREMIERSHIP coaches John Longmire and Adam Simpson have not divulged their interest or otherwise in the vacant job at North Melbourne, although both say they still have a strong emotional attachment to their former club.
North's decision on Wednesday to sack Alastair Clarkson has created another head coach vacancy in the AFL landscape, the fourth such opening this year.
Longmire and Simpson coached Sydney and West Coast respectively to premierships before departing in 2024, and both have expressed an interest to coach again in the future.
But both side-stepped questions about the Roos job when asked on Fox Footy on Wednesday night, with both wanting to show respect for Clarkson so soon after his departure.
"My first reaction is this has just happened today. Let's let the dust settle," Longmire, a former Kangaroos teammate of Clarkson's, said.
Simpson, an assistant coach under Clarkson at Hawthorn as well as a former Roos teammate, said: "It's all a bit of a shock. Both Horse (Longmire) and I have a relationship with Alastair and I can't take my headspace out of him and what he's going through. I haven't given it a lot of thought ... it's a bit early to talk about what we perceive as an opportunity versus a mate who has lost his job."
Both men have knocked back past approaches to return to Arden St and they said their long playing careers at the Roos, including the 1999 premiership win together, means they will always have a strong emotional connection to the club.
"There's always that sentiment," Simpson said. "I played 300 games at North Melbourne and there's always the love of the club and the people there. Probably more than the footy club, it's the people that you work with. That's definitely real."
Longmire, who supported North as a child and joined the club at the age of 16, agreed.
"You can't help it - I grew up there," he said. "It's very hard to lose that sentiment ... you've got a strong connection to the football club and always have.
"I was all chips in at Sydney, but you can't help but look at North Melbourne and say it's had such a big role in both of our lives."
North president Sonja Hood said on Wednesday the club will enter its selection process without any preconceived ideas of who the next coach will be, or whether they will opt for an experienced coach or a first-timer.
On Wednesday, AFL.com.au's Damian Barrett said his early indications are the Roos will lean towards a rookie coach.
"I understand why people's minds go straight to Adam Simpson and John Longmire ... but I feel they will go down, at least at the outset, the path of looking at an untried candidate," Barrett said.
"I'm not as big as others are that it's going to be one of Longmire or Simpson. They are clearly younger (than Clarkson) but they are still in that older category and they have been there and done it.
"I think there's enough vibrancy with the untried candidates ... I feel they will be looking at that."
