Buckley’s ‘red-hot’ shot at Roos role; NBA theme that helped create dynasty — AFL Daily

The “frontrunner” and “red-hot chance” to replace Alastair Clarkson as North Melbourne’s next head coach has been revealed.

Plus, the awesome NBA theme behind Brisbane’s incredible third-straight premiership. More below in AFL Daily!

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‘RED-HOT CHANCE’: PIES LEGEND ‘UP TO HIS EYEBALLS’ FOR ROOS JOB

Geelong assistant coach and Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley is reported to be a “red-hot chance” to become North Melbourne’s next head coach, as the club narrows in on a replacement for Alastair Clarkson.

Speaking on SEN’s Fireball, AFL journalist Tom Morris revealed that while Fremantle assistant coach Jaymie Graham is arguably the lead candidate as things stand, he has Buckley right on his tail.

“The North Melbourne coaching process will ramp up now. Jaymie Graham has gone back to Perth, and my understanding is he’ll be back in Melbourne this week to speak to North face-to-face,” Morris said on Monday morning.

“He is one of the frontrunners, if not the frontrunner. But, as I said last, Nathan Buckley is up to his eyeballs ... I think he’s a red-hot chance.

“I think Graham and Buckley are very much as the top of the tree here.”

Kangaroos champions and premiership coaches Adam Simpson and John Longmire have confirmed in recent weeks they would not enter the club’s coaching search.

Buckley led the Magpies for 218 matches, winning 54.13% of them and qualifying for one Grand Final (2018), with the difference between him and Simpson and Longmire his current role as an assistant coach.

The Kangaroos’ coaching selection panel features Jennifer Watt (club CEO), Todd Viney (GM of Football), Andrew Swallow (Club Director and former club captain), Darren Crocker (Senior AFLW Coach and premiership player), Nick Dowling (Vice President) and Steele Sidebottom (recently retired Collingwood great).

‘PUT IT IN THE BIN’: NBA THEME BEHIND BRISBANE DYNASTY REVEALED

NBA champion Luc Longley has been unearthed as a key figure who helped spur the Brisbane Lions to an extraordinary third-straight premiership.

CODE Sports’ Jay Clark revealed the Lions drew inspiration from the Chicago Bulls’ two NBA three-peats as they chased their own piece of history, with coach Chris Fagan and Australian basketball great Phil Smyth first bringing Longley into the club’s Perth hotel a couple of months ago before its Round 19 clash with West Coast.

Longley spoke for 40 minutes about the challenge of staying hungry across multiple championship seasons and, crucially, the selflessness required to sustain success.

“Generous football”, and “put it in the bin” were two of the focal points within his broader message to the playing group.

The former Bulls centre explained how he found satisfaction in sacrificing for superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen — setting screens, rebounding and creating for teammates rather than chasing individual recognition.

Longley recalled Bulls coach Phil Jackson telling him to “put it in the bin” whenever things went wrong; a metaphor for immediately discarding mistakes and starting again. Longley once even took the message literally, walking outside an arena during a game and pretending to throw his poor performance into a skip.

Clearly, it struck a chord with Brisbane.

The Lions adopted the concept of “generous football”, something winger Jarrod Berry believed encapsulated their brotherhood and willingness to sacrifice for one another. On Grand Final day, that showed through in the desperate acts of Josh Dunkley, Ryan Lester and Harris Andrews before Brisbane surged from 17 points down late to beat Fremantle.

Brisbane embraced the same clean-slate mentality throughout an imperfect season featuring several heavy defeats, including its 53-point qualifying final loss to Sydney.

“He just talked about being generous to each other. He used to get into the game with a great assist, setting a screen, or getting a rebound,” Smyth told CODE Sports.

“He was really team-orientated.

“That is Ryan Lester, isn’t it? Harris Andrews. Josh Dunkley. You could list them all. There’s so many.

“Everyone was right into the story.”

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