Garry Lyon’s advice to Longmire… if the Demons do come calling

• Garry Lyon "shocked and stunned"
• Hodge: Will Gawn stay?
• The contenders: 13 names in the mix
• Troy Chaplin will act as caretaker
• Paul Roos says the Dees will call John Longmire

If Melbourne does happen to call John Longmire - as Paul Roos suggests could happen - what would the advice from Garry Lyon be?

That was the scenario put to the Demons legend in the wake of Simon Goodwin’s sacking which occurred on Tuesday.

SEN Breakfast’s Tim Watson pondered what Lyon would say to the Sydney premiership coach if Longmire confided in him.

“John Longmire’s name has come out above all others. He appears to be their number one man,” said Watson.

“The John Longmire you’ve got to know, if he gives you a call today and says, ‘Garry, what do you think about the Melbourne Football Club? Give me some advice. What would you do? What questions would you ask before you decide you want to take this job?’”

Lyon replied: “It’s the greatest club in the competition, John.

“I would say if you are serious about wanting to get back into footy then there’s great opportunity at the football club.

“But I’d also be very strong in my questioning of the off-field stability of the club and where that sits.

“President-elect Steven Smith would be the first man I’d want to hear from, and Paul Guerra. Its’s hard to get a handle on him because he hasn’t started yet.

“They’re the issues that any incoming coach would want to have a look at and then you start to put your mind to the playing list and questions about facilities. All those sorts of things come in to it.

“There’s opportunity there for any coach.”

Lyon did touch on the instability at the club in recent times and the fact they technically do not have a home base as such.

“It’s a disjointed football club,” Lyon added.

“It’s fractured off the field and has been for a long time. Since I got there in 1986, one of the first things we heard is, ‘We’re going to get a new base’. That was ’86.

“Here we are in 2025… the facility at Casey is fantastic - there’s two grounds, the gyms, all the stuff that you need - but you’re either there or training outside AAMI Park which they’re sharing with the Storm and Victory.”

Roos: Dees will call Horse

Former Demons coach Roos commented on the Goodwin sacking on Tuesday.

The Demons and the 2021 premiership coach parted ways effective immediately after 11 seasons together - nine as senior coach.

Speaking with media in a public press conference, stand-in president Brad Green confirmed that the decision to sack Simon Goodwin was a unanimous decision by the Melbourne board.

Although the decision comes as a shock to many – both internally and externally – Roos believes that when you strip back the emotion from the decision, the writing may have been on the wall.

“I think today it’s a shock, and then you unpack the noise, try to strip away the noise and try to remember some of the conversations you’ve heard or some of the telling conversations that have happened,” Roos told ABC Sport.

“Then you break it down and make some sort of sense out of it. When you do, four weeks to go, the timing… there’s been unrest, let’s been perfectly frank. The CEO (Gary Pert) left, Kate Roffey (former president) left, there’s been a legal (battle) with Glen Bartlett, Christian Petracca wanted to leave, Clayton Oliver wanted to leave – it’s not like we’re talking about a club that hasn’t had its fair share.

“My point is, when you take away the noise and the emotion, which is what the board would have done, then you try and make analytical decisions. There have probably been enough signs to suggest that this was not completely out of the realm of possibility.”

Referencing the board’s decision to move on from Goodwin, Roos believes that the club is looking to get ahead of the pack in regard to the glut of highly touted available senior coaches.

“I think the main reason would be, John Longmire, Adam Simpson (are available)… that’s the only thing I can really think of,” Roos continued.

“They’ve made the decision, they are going to do it, what do you do? You either let him go for the next three weeks, or you go now.

“Clearly the pros of getting rid of him now is your ability to go to the market really quickly without any other club impeding your quest for a new coach. If I had to guess why they would have gone early, I think that’s the reason.”

While Brad Green refused to note any potential replacements in Tuesday’s press conference, Roos is adamant that the club would not have come to this decision without doing their due diligence, expecting that the club has already contacted former premiership coach John Longmire.

“I haven’t spoken to him directly – when he made the decision to leave, we all thought he’ll have at least a year off,” Roos said.

“That year hasn’t really expired yet, and there’s been no need to ask the question because there have been no jobs available.

“I suspect that someone has made the phone call already from the Melbourne Football Club, because if they haven’t, they are bereft in their duties.

“I think they’ve made a call or will within the next 24 hours and get an answer either way.”