The Brisbane Lions have strenuously denied the rush to beat Melbourne to Paul Roos’ signature triggered their decision to end Michael Voss’s coaching reign this week.
Lions chairman Angus Johnson on Thursday stressed the chance of snaffling Roos, who reportedly received a $1.5 million offer from the struggling Demons, had absolutely no bearing on his board’s decision not to offer Voss a new contract.
In fact, Johnson said the board didn’t consider the Sydney Swans premiership coach a candidate when they made the coaching call that took media, players and fans by surprise on Tuesday.
But he did confirm Roos was on the club’s short-list despite the former Fitzroy Lions great consistently playing down a return to coaching.
Brisbane chief executive Malcolm Holmes first approached Roos six weeks ago, when he said he wasn’t interested.
“There’s no way in the world that we were going to make a decision on Michael Voss on the belief that we could appoint Paul Roos to be senior coach when he said on more than one occasion that he’s not interested in coaching,” Johnson said.
“He made it abundantly clear that he was not interested.
“I hear what he says but we are going to ignore him and we are going to contact him.
“His record speaks for itself and he’s obviously an outstanding individual.”
The Lions have started contacting the potential coaches on their short-list, but won’t unveil their selection committee until it’s ratified at a board meeting next Wednesday.
While Roos is the biggest name on a short list that isn’t restricted to proven senior coaches, current caretaker coach Mark Harvey isn’t being considered.
The former Fremantle mentor, controversially dumped by the Dockers for Ross Lyon two years ago, has impressed as a senior assistant coach and will take the reins for the final three rounds.
But it’s understood he has no desire to return to a fulltime senior coaching role at present.
Lions vice-captain Tom Rockliff dismissed reports a strained relationship with Voss was one of the factors in the coaching change.
“Me and Vossy have had robust discussions over our five years together,” he said. “But our conversations were always in the best interests of the footy club.
“I think the way you have seen us compete over the last eight weeks just shows we had Vossy’s back and we were moving in the right direction.”
The Lions continued a big week of announcements by revealing they would move their headquarters from the Gabba to Springfield, between Brisbane and Ipswich, in 2016 when they complete a $60 million training and administration facility.
The club, who overlooked the underused Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre closer by at Nathan, will continue to play their home games at the Gabba.
Johnson described it as one of the most significant days for Australian rules football in Queensland as the code will now boast a huge presence in rugby league heartland.
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