St Kilda assistant Corey Enright has what it takes to become an AFL senior coach, according to his mentor Ross Lyon.
Enright recently prioritised the Carlton vacancy over the Essendon position, and is one of four names vying for the role.
The former Cat is among James Kelly, Josh Fraser and Jaymie Graham who have been shortlisted by the Blues.
"I don't think anyone is ever ready," Lyon said of Enright.
"I think everyone's ready when the opportunity comes. You want to protect your people, help grow your people, and I think here, Corey has probably given as much as he's received, and that's why he's a really good candidate.
"Great family man. Fantastic; he's fully invested here. He supports and challenges; he's very respectful of everyone else's opinion. He was a great player, not that that makes you a great coach, but it doesn't hurt.
"And he's got a great network; culturally, he knows what it looks and feels like. But they're hard to get, and they're harder to hang onto."
Former Carlton goal-kicker Brendon Fevola declared Enright will win the vacancy at Ikon Park.
“I've got it on good authority that the Carlton coach has already been elected," Fevola said last week on The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick.
“In the paper today they said they've dwindled it down to four… Josh Fraser is one of them, but he's not going to be the coach. Take this to the bank, this is a proper DM… I've been told on good authority that the new Carlton coach will be Corey Enright. He played at the Cats; he's an assistant coach at St Kilda under Ross Lyon. He'll be named the Carlton coach for 2027.
“Apparently, he's very, very good. He's reached out to some old teammates to be coaches as well, so that's how I found out the information.”
Enright is the Saints' head of game plan and strategy under Lyon.
After he retired from Geelong after a glittering playing career consisting of 332 games, six All-Australians, three premierships and two best-and-fairests, Enright jumped straight into coaching at the Cats.
Spending five years at Kardinia Park in a variety of roles, he made the switch to the Saints ahead of the 2022 campaign, and has been there since in multiple positions.
