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Paul Roos hasn’t shut the door entirely on coaching in the AFL again but the Brisbane Lions have a tough job swinging it wide open for him.
Roos on Wednesday poured cold water on speculation the former Sydney Swans premiership mentor was preparing to move north.
A day after the shock decision to end Michael Voss’s tenure, Brisbane chairman Angus Johnson conceded his board was under immense pressure to lure a high-profile successor to the Gabba.
Johnson confirmed the widely touted Roos is among a short-list of proven candidates the Lions have contacted about taking the club’s improving playing list to “the next level”.
The Fitzroy great is seen as a perfect replacement for Voss as a former Lion and a coach who lifted the popularity and success of the Swans in another rugby league-dominated city.
The Lions, who last made the finals in Voss’s debut season in 2009, have lost their lustre from the 2001-03 glory days and are also struggling financially, highlighted by their request for a significant boost from the AFL.
But Roos says he has no interest in a coaching return, after three years on the sidelines, in spite of speaking with Brisbane and Melbourne officials in the past two months.
“There’s no interest until I change my mind,” he told Fox Sports. “At this point, I haven’t even got my head around doing it.
“There would have to be a change in some of the other things I’m doing. I’m getting a coaching component at the Swans with the academy so I enjoy doing that.”
Roos wouldn’t be pushed on which job attracted him more, admitting there were “pretty different challenges” between the improving Lions and struggling Demons.
“I’m not going to rush a decision,” he said. “At the moment, the decision is I’m not going to coach.”
Strengthening the links for Brisbane is Roos’ close friendship with Alastair Lynch, who still has strong ties with the Lions.
But Lynch said he’d be surprised if the 2005 premiership-winning coach would take over at the Gabba.
For the rest of this season, former Fremantle mentor Mark Harvey will be Brisbane’s interim coach.
Johnson confidently predicted the club would swiftly replace Voss with a proven coach who could build on the foundations that had been set.
“The football club has a very bright future,” he said. “We’re on the right track and we have been making the right decisions over the last few years and we’re making significant progress.
“Not offering Michael a new contract has been nothing more than requiring a fresh approach.
“We took the decision Vossy had taken the group as far as we believed he could and it was time to make a change.”
Voss, who had a 40 per cent win record, received a long round of applause from Lions players, officials and assistant coaches after a 35-minute media conference with Johnson and chief executive Malcolm Holmes.
While disappointed, the triple-premiership-winning captain said there was no bad blood between him and the club.
“The final few moments of where I sit will not take away 22 years of my experience at the club,” he said.
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