North Melbourne is currently on the hunt for a new senior coach, and former Roos player and premiership coach John Longmire has emerged as a contender.
However, in recent years clubs have decided to go with first-time coaches instead of second-time coaches such as Longmire who led Sydney from 2011 to 2024 and took the Swans to a premiership and five Grand Finals.
The reason behind the lack of faith in second-time-around coaches is that only one (Mick Malthouse at Collingwood) has won a premiership at their second club since 2004.
Another reason has been due to the belief that the modern player's needs and how they want to be coached has changed vastly over the past decade. Cases where a second-time coach hasn't worked include Alastair Clarkson's stint at North Melbourne that recently ended, along with Brad Scott at Essendon and Michael Voss at Carlton.
Speaking on SEN's Crunchtime on Saturday, West Coast premiership coach Adam Simpson staunchly came to Longmire's, a good friend of his and former teammate at North Melbourne, defence.
"The general question around has the game evolved that much in the last few years that John Longmire can't coach anymore? That's ridiculous," Simpson said on the broadcast.
"I'm pretty sure he evolved as a coach during the 14 years that he was a coach. The game hasn't been blown away in the last few years.
"I think it is more about management, player management and people management which I think is also, I'm talking about John here, in my head he has proven in spades. People go to him to get advice on those type of things.
"To suggest that the game has moved to a level that these guys who have been out of the system for a while can't do it anymore, that is probably not quite true.
"I think it is the cycle we are in. We have seen some good success for young coaches when they come in and they have had immediate impact. That feels like that's the way to go at the moment, but that will change."
North Melbourne has begun its search for its next senior coach over the past week, with Simpson recently stating that he would not take part in the process.
Longmire, as well as current assistant coaches Jaymie Graham (Fremantle), Corey Enright (St Kilda), James Kelly (Geelong), Hayden Skipworth (Collingwood) and Daniel Giansiracusa (Hawthorn) are all contenders for the top job at North Melbourne.
