‘Shocked’: Top contender quits Demons coach race in final days as Buckley ‘preparing a team’

One of the top contenders for the Melbourne coaching job has withdrawn from the race, while Nathan Buckley “prepares a team” for his potential hiring.

Hayden Skipworth, Craig McRae’s senior assistant at Collingwood, chose not to continue with the process before interviews were conducted early this week.

It leaves five candidates for the job - ex-Magpies coach Buckley plus assistants Brendon Lade, James Kelly, Daniel Giansiracusa and Steven King.

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“Melbourne were surprised to learn he wanted to go out,” the Herald Sun’s Scott Gullan told Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.

“The interviews started on Monday morning and Nathan Buckley was one of the first ones there ... it (Skipworth’s exit) shocked the Demons.”

Skipworth, who played 55 AFL games across Adelaide and Essendon, ran second to Andrew McQualter in the race for the West Coast job this time last year.

“We all see Hayden Skipworth as a coach-in-waiting, so this seems to me like the kind of move you pull if you think you’re not gonna get the job and you don’t want to be a runner-up,” the Herald Sun’s Josh Barnes said on Fox Footy.

“We know once you become a runner-up too many times, you start to get a bit of a stink about you.”

Many inside the footy world believe Buckley is the clear frontrunner, given he’s the only man with senior coaching experience who was interviewed.

“The mail is he’s preparing a team ... as you would, you present to the board and go, if I’m your man, I’m gonna bring X, Y and Z,” Gullan explained.

“One of the names mentioned has been Marcus Wagner, who he worked with at Collingwood, but interestingly he was at Melbourne until recently in the AFLW program (as the GM of footy) - but left in June I think it was.”

Wagner worked closely with Buckley when the pair were at the Magpies.

Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight they’ll announce their preferred candidate to replace Simon Goodwin next week.

“Big couple of days, and the great thing is for every Melbourne supporter, there’s a number of quality candidates who want to coach the football club,” Guerra said.

“We’ll sort that out in the next week but it’s been a really good process and we’ve had some really good insights.”

Asked about the perception Buckley is the clear favourite, Guerra said: “Everyone’s gonna have their opinion on it. We’ve been really clear - we narrowed it down to six, we’ve taken them through the process, and let’s see what comes out.”

It was also revealed on Midweek Tackle the Demons contacted Ken Hinkley about his interest in returning to AFL coaching while a large number of clubs spoke with Hinkley’s management about a footy boss or assistant role.

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