PAUL Roos' successor as Melbourne coach will be in place by the end of this season, chief executive Peter Jackson says.
Roos was last year signed to a two-year deal with the option of a third, and the Demons are opting to wait in appointing a senior assistant to succeed him.
Jackson was hopeful Roos would fulfil the full term of his contract, but expected this season to play a major role in his decision.
"I don't want to put pressure on Roosy or start getting into some public debate about will be here for two or three years," Jackson said.
"I just want him to be really happy about the decision he's made coming to work each day and knowing he's done the right thing.
"If we do that for most of this year I think the rest will take care of itself."
Melbourne pursued Sydney Swans assistant coach Stuart Dew last year to take over his former mentor, but was knocked back as he re-signed with the Swans.
"We would want to understand who's in that role towards the end of this football season, absolutely," Jackson said.
Meanwhile, Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan hopes to be back playing in round two or three, ruling himself out of the club's opener against St Kilda next Saturday.
Hogan is battling what was described as a stress reaction in his lower back, after pulling up sore following the club's NAB Challenge hit-out against Geelong in Alice Springs on February 28.
"It was a little bit of a setback, nothing too serious," Hogan told Channel 9's The Footy Show.
"(It's) obviously not ideal timing, but hopefully I'm back in the early rounds – round two or three."
The 19-year-old is not completely sure of the specifics of his condition, but he and the club are confident it is not a long-term worry.
"It's a bit odd. You can't really get scans on it. It's more symptomatic, so a week-to-week, day-to-day sort of thing," he said.
"There's no real time frame, you've just got to hope it pulls up well after every session and take it from there."
Hogan showed some positive signs in his first game of the season against the Cats, displaying his aerial attributes in leading the Demons' forward line in the absence of Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes.
He had 13 possessions, took seven marks and kicked a goal against the Cats.
Clark (hamstring) and Dawes (calf) did not make an appearance in the pre-season and are still up to three or four weeks of returning to training.
Having the trio up and firing by the midway point of the season is one of Melbourne's top priorities.
That's Hogan's plan, too.
"Hopefully some time in the first half of the year would be ideal and hopefully sooner rather than later," he said.
