And so it came to pass that Melbourne’s first premiership coach since colour television big farewell.

After eight seasons and 20 games of promise, frustration, delight, despair, off-field controversies, in-house scandals and one unforgettable evening in September 2021, Simon Goodwin’s time at the Demons is up.

Whatever the manner of his departure, which comes with the majority of red and blue diehards lauding him for the glory he achieved but adamant the time is right for change, the 48-year old has rightly been celebrated as one of only four Melbourne premiership coaches in the club’s VFL/AFL history, and can rest safe in the knowledge a future senior coaching job somewhere around the league, at some point down the line, is his if he wants it.

For now, though, the Dees must task themselves with finding his successor – and indeed, the timing of his sacking is to ensure they are the first cabs off the rank when picking from a coaching field that seems as widespread as any in recent memory.

Whether the club are able to nab their captain’s choice – one of the numerous former senior coaches currently on the market – or instead opt for an untried assistant in the hopes of unearthing the next Craig McRae, the pool is vast and a wide net can certainly be cast.

Here are 14 options to step in as Melbourne’s next senior coach – ranked on how ideal a fit they’d be as a Demon.

The Caretaker

Troy Chaplin

The assistant who steps in to hold the fort when the old boss falls on his sword is never without a puncher’s chance at securing the top job. In recent years, David Teague (Carlton), Brett Ratten (St Kilda) and Rhyce Shaw (North Melbourne) all went from caretakers to full-timers within months of one another in 2019, while Jarrad Schofield came close to doing likewise at West Coast before they settled on Andrew McQualter late last year. McQualter himself took just 12 months to go from caretaker at Richmond to a senior job in his own right.

Chaplin’s biggest knock is that he’s a one-club assistant, having joined the Dees almost straight after his playing career wrapped up in late 2016 and remaining there ever since. Overseeing the forwards in recent years, the team’s most obvious Achilles heel, probably doesn’t help his case either.

Still, two or three wins in his three games in charge – all difficult encounters against finals aspirants the Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn and Collingwood – can’t hurt his chances, especially if the board swings and misses at one of the big names they’ve got their eye on.

The Old Stagers

John Longmire

The early frontrunner – though it must be said the immediate favourite to land a coaching job doesn’t always end up getting it. The Eagles, for example, went a fair way down their list last year before settling on McQualter.

Longmire’s coaching pedigree speaks for itself: like Goodwin, he has won a premiership, while his four losing grand finals at Sydney are either a sign of the Swans’ consistent contending under his reign, or an indictment on his teams continually choking on the biggest stage of all.

Having departed on his own terms at the end of last year, and not in any way tainted by the ignominious exit that befell the other former senior coaches at the end of their tenures, it seems exceedingly likely that the job is Longmire’s if he wants it.

The question is: does he want it?

John Longmire. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Adam Simpson

The only other premiership coach in the mix, Simpson is a less instantly appealing choice than Longmire for a number of reasons – but Dom Sheed’s iconic winning goal in 2018 has ensured his name will remain part of coaching discussions for some time to come.

The most obvious mark against his name is his public commitment, just days ago, that he has ‘no real desire’ to returning to senior coaching, rubbishing on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 rumours that he has moved back to Melbourne and had been contacted by a Victorian club as hogwash.

Those rumours do seem a good deal more interesting now that there is most assuredly a job up for grabs, but the other elephant in the room is the disastrous end to Simpson’s time at West Coast, in which he oversaw a crumbling team that won just eight games in his final three seasons at the helm, and was guilty for showing excessive loyalty to a group of senior players well past their prime which resulted in the disastrous state of their list today.

That last fact alone is a particularly salient thing to consider given the current state of affairs at the Dees, with several stars, most obviously Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca, hardly living up to the hefty contracts they are currently on, and whom the club refused to part with at the end of last season.

Ken Hinkley

Continuity is probably Hinkley’s most appealing asset as a Goodwin replacement: unlike Simpson and Longmire, who have spent the last 12 months out of the game, the Port Adelaide coach would step straight out of the Power and into another gig, in a change we haven’t seen since Ross Lyon jumped from St Kilda to Fremantle at the end of 2011.

Hinkley is the most accomplished non-grand final coach in VFL/AFL history – which, if you asked any Power fan, is the ultimate backhander and not in the least a compliment.

Still, his four preliminary final appearances aren’t to be sniffed at, and nor is the unquestioned love and support he received from his playing group right to the end, which would be a handy asset for a team like the Demons with player discontent growing rife in recent years.

Ken Hinkley. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Nathan Buckley

It’s Buckley’s standing as a champion player and a high-profile media personality that ensures he is linked to every coaching vacancy around the AFL these days as much as his pedigree from a 10-season stint in charge of his beloved Collingwood.

Had Sheed’s kick cannoned into the post in September 2018, Buckley would have the premiership that Simpson currently possesses, and that near-miss will always be proof that he can coach at the highest level. His extraordinary playing career also lends itself to earning him a second chance, just as it did for Michael Voss at Carlton a decade after his disastrous stint at Brisbane.

The negative for Buckley is both the question of interest (he seems far more likely to be an inaugural coach at Tasmania after a few more years in the media) and lack of coaching continuity: Voss received his lifeline after building his reputation as an assistant at Port Adelaide, whereas the 53-year old has entrenched himself in the media ever since being sacked by the Magpies four years ago.

In terms of the five former coaches in the mixes, he seems the very obvious fourth seed.

James Hird

The wildcard. This isn’t the first coaching job Hird has been linked to since returning from the wilderness into mainstream footy – he was touted for a potential return to Essendon to replace Ben Rutten in late 2022 before Brad Scott was appointed – but it would be the first time a club other than his beloved Bombers has shown interest were the Dees to include him in the conversation.

It makes little sense though, right? Not only was Hird’s tenure at the Bombers an unqualified disaster dominated by the supplements saga, but his sole experience at coaching at the highest level came as a consultant to GWS caretaker and old Bombers teammate Mark McVeigh in mid-2022.

Plus, he went on record earlier this year after being linked to the Bombers again by dismissing any interest in coaching, and committing himself to his business and media duties.

If the Dees do indeed reach the point where the four above experienced coaches all turn them down, then surely they would be better off scouring the market for the best-qualified assistant than taking the ultimate gamble on Hird.

James Hird (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

The Fresh Faces

Hayden Skipworth

A veteran assistant coach, the 42-year old has served one of the longest apprenticeships of any candidate. Beginning in 2009 at Essendon after a single season at the Dons before being delisted, Skipworth worked up the ranks to become midfield coach before departing for Collingwood at the end of 2019.

At the Pies, he has become one of the more highly regarded assistants going around, with some notable near-misses – he rejected a call from Richmond to apply for the job that eventually went to Adem Yze, while he was a close second behind McQualter for the Eagles job this time last year.

As midfield coach, he has played a significant role in the Pies’ resurgence in 2024; the Dees could do a whole lot worse than to finally give him his chance. There’s a lot of Adam Kingsley about him.

Scott Burns

14 years on from the first time he was linked to a head coaching job, could this finally be Burns’ time?

The former Collingwood champion’s resume is packed: he has worked at West Coast, the Magpies, Hawthorn and now Adelaide over 17 years as an assistant, along the way being considered for a swathe of senior coaching positions. He even filled in for Matthew Nicks as coach for a 2022 match due to COVID.

The one mark against him is that despite working at three of the most successful clubs of the last two decades, none have made a grand final while he has been there. With the Crows surging towards the minor premiership, though, that could be about to change – but does that lure of success close at hand make him reluctant to leave if the Dees come calling?

Ashley Hansen

One of the group who rejected West Coast’s advances this time last year, Hansen comes highly regarded, having spent time at both the Western Bulldogs and Carlton over 14 years in various assistant roles.

Currently the Blues’ senior assistant under Michael Voss – he stepped in for Voss after a positive COVID test in early 2022 – the 2006 Eagles premiership player doesn’t come quite as highly credentialled as some other candidates, but as long been seen as a senior coach in waiting.

Danny Daly

The next Chris Fagan? No one in football has worked harder for the last 25 years than Daly, who has belied having never played AFL football to climb the ladder at various clubs to becoming Brisbane’s head of football for five years of wall-to-wall success.

A future coaching great in the eyes of many, Daly would be a great fit at the Dees in much the same way Fagan has proved at the Lions – the clincher, though, is whether he wants to do it.

He rejected West Coast’s advances late last year, and is established and happy in Brisbane. Most pertinently, it has been heavily suggested he is Fagan’s heir apparent at the Lions as part of a coaching succession somewhere down the line.

Daniel Giansiracusa

2020’s AFL Coaches Association Assistant of the Year, the former Western Bulldog is another highly regarded assistant whose ascension to senior ranks has been seen as a matter of if and not when.

Missed out on the Richmond job in late 2023, and five years at Essendon in charge of an injury-prone backline group hasn’t impacted his reputation. Interestingly, he had a one-year stint as coach of Footscray in the VFL in 2019, a level at which Craig McRae also coached before being appointed to the top job at Collingwood.

Jaymie Graham

Graham’s CV reads just about identically to many names on this list: he’s highly regarded, has a wealth of experience, and told West Coast thanks but no thanks when they came knocking last year.

If the 42-year old, currently serving as forwards coach as Fremantle, couldn’t be convinced to become a senior coach in the very same state, the Demons’ odds of convincing him to be a part of their coaching process seem long.

But as a senior assistant at the Eagles during their 2018 premiership, who got out at the right time to join Freo in 2022 just as the team plummeted, success has mostly followed him during his coaching career.