The two-time premiership captain stepped in as the Crows' interim coach for the final six games of 2011 but was beaten to the senior gig by Sanderson.
Sanderson was bullish on Bickley's suitability for the Melbourne coaching position.
"I hope 'Bicks' puts his hand up and I'm sure he'll get contacted by the Melbourne Footy Club – it'd be a great job for him," Sanderson said.
"I'm sure it's one he'd do really well if he gets the opportunity."
Meanwhile, former Port Adelaide captain Dom Cassisi has backed Mark Williams as a candidate.
Cassisi won a premiership with Williams at the Power in 2004 and said the two remained good friends.
Currently an assistant coach at Richmond, Williams is one of the favourites to take over from interim coach Neil Craig at the Demons.
He had aspired to take the senior coaching job at Greater Western Sydney, but crossed to Punt Road when Leon Cameron was handed the role from 2014.
Cassisi said Williams' passion for football clearly still burned bright and that he had all the skills needed as a head coach.
"I got a message from 'Choco' the other day. I respect him as being a previous coach and a good friend," Cassisi said.
"You can't question his passion for the game, everyone knows that and he's a great teacher.
"I'm not in a position to determine who Melbourne should go for, but Choco's definitely got the qualities."
Cassisi wasn't surprised by his own side's remarkable turnaround this season, claiming it was simply reward for hard work.
The Power sit eighth after claiming their biggest scalp in a number of seasons last weekend, when they beat the Sydney Swans by 18 points.
After winning just eight games in the past two seasons, a top eight position at this point of the year would have seemed fanciful when the season commenced.
But Cassisi said he had noticed an increase in standards at training over the summer, spurred by the arrival of coach Ken Hinkley and high performance manager Darren Burgess.
"You don't know how hard other clubs are working, but internally we really lifted our standard," Cassisi said.
"There's no substitute for hard work and we put in a lot of hard yards over the summer.
"I've never questioned the work ethic of our group, but Darren Burgess came in and really pushed us and we really worked on the defensive side to our game.
"Things can chance pretty quickly if you're prepared to do the work together and I think we're starting to get the benefits of it."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.
