GEELONG may use the departure of general manager of football Steve Hocking to the AFL to restructure roles within its football department.
The Cats are understood to be contemplating a similar structure to the successful model it had between 2007-2012, when Neil Balme was general manager of football and Hocking was his right-hand man under a variety of titles.
Geelong began discussions last week about how to replace the respected Hocking, who will remain at the club until the end of their finals campaign.
Club president Colin Carter told K-Rock the Cats had examined how the key role had evolved in recent years under Hocking.
"One of the questions we are actually talking about is … whether this is an opportunity or a requirement to actually change some aspect of the footy department's operations," Carter said.
The club appointed Simon Lloyd as coaching director at the start of 2016 to work alongside Hocking and extended coach Chris Scott's contract at the start of the season until the end of 2019.
Carter said the search for suitable candidate would happen internally as well as externally, with the Cats position expected to be a coveted position.
Experienced football managers are in high demand, with former AFL football operations chief Simon Lethlean expected to return to the football industry at some point.
The Cats enter a cut-throat final on Friday night against the Sydney Swans after a disappointing 51-point loss to Richmond in the qualifying final.
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