CARLTON has been asked to follow tighter protocols in its search for a new senior coach to avoid interrupting its rivals during the second half of the season.
The AFL Coaches Association met with the Blues on Monday to relay the wishes of senior coaches and football managers who are preparing for their highly rated assistants to be approached.
Rather than contact candidates directly, the Blues have agreed to make their first approach through CEO Steven Trigg to the rival club's CEO to avoid any "inter-club stoushes".
If the eventual successful candidate is not interim coach John Barker, there has also been a push from senior coaches to be able to retain their assistant coach until the end of the season.
The tightened protocols were backed by the AFL late last week.
AFL offers help to Blues on coach search
CEO Mark Brayshaw said the AFLCA had attempted to remove any doubt in how the Blues should conduct their search, given they are on the lookout so early in the season.
"We'd like for Steven Trigg to ring the CEO of another club as a courtesy, just to make sure there is no grey area and none of the coaches feel embarrassed or awkward (when they are approached)," Brayshaw told AFL.com.au.
"That's one thing all the senior coaches wanted to happen and were very hot on. In this way, it's transparent for the individual coach but it also avoids any potential for inter-club stoushes.
"I understand this has typically happened in the past, but not always, and (Carlton football manager) Andrew McKay seemed comfortable with that."
The AFLCA consulted all clubs with an assistant completing the AFL's Level Four Senior Coach program, given they were the clubs "most likely to be involved in this process".
The first intake of the accreditation program includes Brendan Bolton (Hawthorn), Stuart Dew (Sydney Swans), Simon Lloyd (Fremantle), Blake Caracella (Geelong), Robert Harvey (Collingwood) and Adam Kingsley (St Kilda).
Also completing the course are Barker and Port Adelaide assistant Matthew Nicks, who has already said the vacant Carlton position was not something he was considering at this point.
Harvey also played down his chances at the weekend, saying senior coaching was on his radar in the future but he was happy in his role at Collingwood.
Given the important roles played by coaches like Harvey, who is Nathan Buckley's senior assistant, clubs pushed last week to have the final call on whether the successful candidate stayed with them until the end of the season.
"The senior coaches I spoke to were all very keen to assist and enable their deputies to be given every chance to get a senior coaching job," Brayshaw said.
"At the same time, however, they want to protect their own clubs and in particular stabilise their seasons if they made it to the finals. So they were looking to strike a balance.
"That was also well received by the Blues."
In 2011, Geelong coach Chris Scott wanted his assistant Brenton Sanderson to stay on through the club's finals campaign after he was appointed senior coach at Adelaide.
The Cats left the decision with Sanderson, who left before the Cats went on to win the premiership.
Carlton is yet to assemble an independent sub-committee to recommend the club's next coach and was not in a position to comment on its process to find Mick Malthouse's replacement.
