Simon Goodwin, just the fourth premiership coach in the fabled history of the Melbourne Demons, has been sacked with immediate effect, after a miserable 2025 campaign.
A victory over the cellar-dwelling West Coast Eagles was ultimately not enough to extend the tenure of the 2021 premiership coach, just a week after being on the wrong side of the largest overturned three-quarter-time deficit in V/AFL history.
The code's oldest club will now begin its search for its 32nd head coach, but just who is in the running?
2. Adam Simpson
Buckley's victorious opposite number in the 2018 Grand Final, Adam Simpson, is another name being bandied around as a key member of the coaching carousel, after his departure from the Eagles, in July of last year.
At the conclusion of the 2020 season, Simpson boasted a winning record of 65% from 148 games in charge of the Eagles, but the number plummeted to just one win on the right side of 50% at the time of his sacking.
Infamously poor list decisions, characterised by an excess of loyalty to the premiership heroes of 2018, contributed to the graceless decline of Simpson's program, but his tactical nous and coaching acumen are undeniable, evidenced by the expert analysis 'Simmo' has provided in the media since.
Whether or not he is far enough removed from the scarring that undoubtedly comes with the repeated demolitions that populated the last few years of his tenure, is the big question mark over a potential appointment - at Melbourne or otherwise.
