Collingwood senior assistant coach Hayden Skipworth has confirmed he has aspirations to be a senior coach one day.
The 43-year-old's name was thrown around as a potential candidate for both the Carlton and Essendon senior coach roles, but he is set to miss out on both opportunities.
Skipworth was hesitant to comment on the selection process for a coach at the Bombers and Blues, but was clear on what he wanted his future to be.
"Definitely (want to be a senior coach), that's an aspiration piece," Skipworth said.
"It's got to be a good fit for me and the club. So, yeah, everything I've done today is to go down the path.
"I probably won't go too much (into the coach selection process) and give it a running commentary on the process stuff. But all I've said previously is, I'm really happy here.
"Fly's been unbelievable to me. The club's been enormous. We've got really great coaches, not only line coaches, but we've got Justin Leppitsch and Shane O'Bree and these guys in the building that I'm learning from."
Skipworth arrived at Collingwood in 2020 as the Magpies' midfield coach before being elevated to Craig McRae's right-hand man.
The former Adelaide and Essendon player started his coaching career in development at the Bombers before coaching Bendigo Gold and the Bendigo Bombers in the VFL between 2012-16. He then became an assistant coach at Essendon before leaving for Collingwood.
The current front runners for the Essendon job are Mark McVeigh (Sydney assistant), Jaymie Graham (Fremantle assistant) and James Hird.
Meanwhile, the leading candidates for the Carlton job are interim coach Josh Fraser and Corey Enright (St Kilda assistant).
