BRISBANE champion and current Port Adelaide assistant Michael Voss has emerged on the radar of Gold Coast as a potential coaching candidate under Stuart Dew for 2022.
The Suns are looking to boost their coaching ranks for next season and the looming departure of midfield assistant Josh Francou has created an opening for next year.
Suns chiefs have been speaking to prospective assistants for several months and have become aware of Voss as an option in recent times.
Voss falls out of contract with the Power this year and holds strong family ties in Queensland after his career at the Lions as a player and tenure as coach.
AFL.com.au understands Voss, who remains in contention for the Collingwood senior coaching job, would be open to a move north should he miss the Pies' position.
Dew holds a contract for 2022 and any interest in Voss would be purely as an assistant and separate to any speculation about Dew's future in the top chair.
Voss captained the Suns' closest rivals to three flags across 2001-2003 before retiring in 2006 as one of the most distinguished midfielders of his generation.
The 46-year-old spent two years working as a commentator and coaching the AFL-AIS Academy and flagged an interest in becoming the Suns' inaugural senior coach ahead of the club being formed in 2009.
He was also appointed as a consultant in building the Suns' debut playing list in May 2008 only to be announced as Brisbane senior coach in September that year, replacing his premiership coach Leigh Matthews from 2009.
After five years at the helm of the Lions, including a finals appearance in his first season, Voss was sacked at the end of 2013.
The 1996 Brownlow medallist spent 2014 working for Foxtel's The Recruit program before joining Port Adelaide as midfield coach ahead of 2015. He was then elevated to the role as Ken Hinkley's senior assistant ahead of 2019 and remains an integral part of the coaching panel as the Power strive for another top-four finish.
Voss, who maintains intentions to return to a senior coaching role, has met with Collingwood about the role vacated by Nathan Buckley earlier this year and is one of several names on the Pies' shortlist.
Ironically, Hinkley followed the same path as an assistant via the Suns for three years (2010-2012) before winning a senior coaching role with the Power.
Should he not wish to pursue a coaching future, a role in the media remains a possibility for Voss next year having impressed as an expert analyst for Channel Seven during last year's Toyota AFL Grand Final.
Should Voss join the Suns, he would be the third former AFL coach on the club's coaching panel under Dew.
Rhyce Shaw, who departed as North Melbourne senior coach last year and crossed to the Suns in a development role, is expected to maintain his same responsibilities into 2022.
Shaw has remained in Queensland this week with the Suns travelling south at short notice given the state's COVID-19 lockdown.
Former Adelaide coach Neil Craig also remains a consultant to the Suns' coaching panel and has joined the team in Melbourne this week.
Francou, who will return to South Australia at season's end, has shared the Suns' coaches' box this year with Josh Drummond, Tate Kaesler and Tim Clarke.
