SYDNEY coach Paul Roos has endorsed his assistant John Longmire as the next man to take charge of the Swans.
Roos, 44, who guided the club to its first premiership in 72 years in 2005, is of the mind that when he finishes his stint in the Harbour City, Longmire (the current coaching coordinator) is a ready-made a replacement.
“I think he [Longmire] would be an outstanding senior coach for the club,” Roos said in an exclusive interview with sydneyswans.com.au.
“At this stage he’s the most senior of our assistants and he knows the system really well and he gets on well with the players. I won’t make that decision obviously, but I think that if he was in that position and wanted to do it, he’d be very, very good for the club.”
Longmire, a North Melbourne legend, Coleman Medallist and premiership player who has been at the Swans since 2002, has shared coaching duties during the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge games with Roos.
The premiership coach has been viewing play from the bench in an experiment to improve communication between players and coaches.
He’d like to think that part of the legacy he will leave at the Swans, when he eventually finishes, is an able successor to take his place.
“I’d like to think that we’ve someone here that can step up. In any organisation I think it’s good if you’ve a good culture and a good system that… when I do give it away, one of the assistants takes over," he said.
"Obviously they’re going to change some things, which would be good, but I think we’ve got a good culture.”
Having stated previously that he wouldn’t coach outside New South Wales, Roos said that when he finishes his term with the Swans, coaching in the US, where his wife Tammy is from, would be of more appealing to him.
“I’d be interested in getting involved in the college system, in NFL [National Football League] or NBA [National Basketball Association]. It’s unlikely to happen but I’d be interested in doing that," he said.
"That would probably interest me more than doing Victoria or South Australia or Western Australia. It’s nothing against those teams or states, it’s just once I finish here I’ll be reasonably tired and ready to do something different.”
If Roos was to ever contemplate a return to AFL coaching after a few years off, it would have to be back in Sydney rather than anywhere else.
“I think if I did have a break and I got the urge to coach again I’d like to think that, without stepping on anyone’s toes or if the process happened and I was invited back to coach, I’d be more likely to come back to this club rather than go to another club.”
