Steven King will bring a "fresh approach" to Melbourne when he heads the club as senior coach from 2026 onwards.
The Geelong assistant was announced as the Demons mentor after a quick process from Simon Goodwin's sacking in August.
Nathan Buckley was largely felt as the frontrunner for the job, but with Tasmania in waiting ahead of their introduction in 2028, Melbourne thought otherwise.
King, who is still employed at the Cats and will see out the remainder of the finals series, is believed to have pipped Buckley, as well as colleague James Kelly, Daniel Giansiracusa and Brendon Lade, while Hayden Skipworth was a candidate that pulled out early in the piece.
Albeit external noise suggesting that Buckley's hesitancy to commit to the role while negotiating with the Devils, fresh Demons CEO Paul Guerra cleared the air, explaining why King was unanimously accepted by the board, and recommended by the selection panel.
"He brings a fresh approach," Guerra said on 3AW.
"He's really clear around the game plan that he wants to play. He's clear about how he's going to adapt that into our list.
"We liked his conviction to coaching. We liked his view that coaching is moving toward more of a team environment, rather than the individual.
"We know how he's going to communicate with our players, and more importantly, we know how he's going to take that coach position across the whole club."
Since the drought-breaking 2021 premiership, Melbourne has been put through the ringer, albeit by their own doing.
The mishandling of Christian Petracca's life-threatening injury, the Clayton Oliver trade debacle stretching over two years, Joel Smith's drug ban, the poor on-field performances, Goodwin's sacking, which ultimately led to a fresh start and a new voice.
However, King has assured Melbourne that he doesn't want to start anew; instead, he wants to build on the foundations of the club, which include retaining Petracca and Oliver, despite their links to rival clubs.
"He doesn't want to tip everything we got out," Guerra said.
"We've got a couple of assistants who will go forward. We'll add to that, and he'll have a view of that.
"And then we'll look at the list. It's not a case of tipping everything out and starting again, he's going to work with what we've got, and make the changes that he thinks are necessary to play a contemporary game of footy."
