MELBOURNE defender James Frawley says uncertainty over who might succeed Paul Roos as senior coach is just one of the factors causing him to wait before re-signing with the Demons.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his management made the club aware he wanted to wait and see how the year unfolded before renewing his contract, Frawley said there was no logic in him rushing his decision.
He emphasised he had no bad blood with the club, was enjoying his time under Roos and should not be in the same bracket of players who put off talks until the end of the season and then leave their club.
But he did concede that the inability of the club to land a successor to Roos – who signed a two-year contract with an option of a third in September – was an element of uncertainty that ideally would be resolved before he made a decision.
"Hopefully this year or next year they find a nice new coach to take over from Roosy. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later," Frawley said.
He said he understood however why an appointment had not yet been made.
"[You] don't want to rush it because you if you don't get the right bloke it's not going to be any good anyway. [By] taking their time they have done the right thing," Frawley said.
The 25-year-old restricted free agent would be an attractive proposition for opposition clubs if he chose to move onto a club more likely to achieve team success during his career.
Frawley has played in just 31 wins in 118 games with the club, is yet to play in a final and Roos is his seventh coach since he made his debut in round nine, 2007. He is in the leadership group and is a popular and valued member of the team.
However Melbourne lost Tom Scully at the end of 2011 and Brent Moloney, Jared Rivers and Colin Sylvia all left the club as free agents in the past two seasons.
With Roos not prepared to make a commitment beyond three years and no successor in place the club is unable to outline to Frawley exactly what is in store when Roos vacates the job.
Frawley joked that if Roos signed for a few more seasons, he would too but he knows that the decision ahead is an important one for his playing career and one that could have a big impact on Melbourne's prospects.
"I'm in no rush, plenty of time to make my decision," Frawley said.
He said Roos has been very understanding of the defender's decision to wait and see what unfolds and emphasised that the vibe around the club was very positive.
He said although it was just a NAB Challenge match, the win over Richmond demonstrated the renewed confidence of the players. On Friday night, 10 Demons had more than 20 possessions and Frawley said everyone was playing with more freedom.
