ASPIRING coaches Lenny Hayes, Darren Glass, Dean Cox and Ben Rutten have been given the seal of approval by coaching guru David Wheadon as they look to enter full-time assistant ranks following retirement.
With a combined 1,081 games, 14 All Australian selections and seven club champion awards, all four are being chased to fill coaching roles after finishing their distinguished careers.
In a boost for their aspirations, the quartet has completed Wheadon's Next Coach program, which has a 100 per cent strike rate with graduates who apply for coaching jobs.
Cox has been West Coast's part-time ruck coach through his final season as a player, but hasn't ruled out a move to rival club as he seeks a full-time coaching role in 2015.
St Kilda champion Hayes, meanwhile, has spoken to the Saints about staying at the club in some capacity next season, with Richmond and North Melbourne also pushing for his services.
Much like former Cat Cameron Ling before he announced he would stay in the media for the next two years, Hayes will be in demand across the League if he decides to step into coaching immediately.
It is understood Rutten, who has been preparing for his transition from playing to coaching for five years, has spoken to up to eight clubs about assistant coaching roles and has impressed.
Glass, meanwhile, will accompany Wheadon on a trip to Stanford University in California later this year to improve his coaching credentials ahead of a potential move into the AFL system as a development or assistant coach.
Wheadon said all four had the ability to step straight into assistant coaching.
"They're all intelligent and they've made an effort to explore coaching by doing the [Next Coach] program," Wheadon told AFL.com.au.
"They're going into coaching with some sort of background and understanding.
"I think it gives them a good base and they think about concepts and ideas and how they would handle different situations.
"Some of them have been lucky enough to do some coaching at the highest level, so the clubs have been very good in that sense."
The Next Coach program has been running since 2009, with West Coast coach Adam Simpson the first player to complete the course as a trial run.
Forty-six players have since graduated from the elite course, with assistant coaches Simon Goodwin, Brady Rawlings and Shane O'Bree among them.
The class of 2014 was headlined by Hawthorn star Sam Mitchell and also included Jordan Russell, Corey Enright, Jared Rivers, Mark Nicoski, Dom Cassisi and Ashley McGrath.
Wheadon enjoyed a 25-year career as an assistant coach at the elite level, working alongside coaches who have won a total of 17 premierships.
He said aspiring coaches needed to understand that being a good player didn't necessarily translate into being a good coach.
"They're different skills," he said.
"They've got the knowledge because they're at the cutting edge by playing, but now they have to know how to teach what they know and manage people.
"If you do the program you've thought about coaching and you've tried to prepare yourself instead of just saying, 'I was a good player, give me a job', which clubs are not going to do."
