NORTH Melbourne's public pursuit of veteran Sydney coach John Longmire hasn't disrupted the work flow for Kangaroos caretaker Rhyce Shaw this week, who has backed the club's decision to chase his former Swans mentor.
As reported by AFL.com.au on Tuesday, North Melbourne chairman Ben Buckley called his Sydney counterpart Andrew Pridham this week to officially register the club's interest in approaching Longmire for its vacant senior coach position.
Shaw took over as the club's interim boss after North parted ways with long-time coach Brad Scott late last month and has guided the club to two wins from his first three games in charge.
He has also worked extensively under Longmire, both as a premiership player with the Swans and as an assistant coach at the club.
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However, having been backed as a potential full-time coach himself in the future – whether it's at Arden Street or elsewhere – Shaw does not believe the persistent speculation linking the club to Longmire has made it awkward for him or the playing group.
"It's well within the club's rights to look elsewhere," Shaw said on Wednesday.
"They have to try and find the best coach for the footy club … they'd be silly not to.
"John's a fantastic coach. He coached me for seven years and I coached under him for three years. He's one of the greats, I've been lucky enough to see that first-hand.
"Whatever the club thinks they need to do, I fully support that."
Shaw said the speculation hadn't infiltrated the playing group, saying there had been no mention of the links to Longmire this week.
"Not at all," Shaw said.
"The boys are totally focused on what I'm telling them at the moment."
Shaw and Longmire during a game in 2018. Picture: AFL Photos
Shaw also revealed the club was still investigating Taylor Garner's role in an alleged altercation at a Double Bay hotel on Saturday night, which left a man with a broken nose.
He said he was unsure on potential punishments for Garner but told of his and the playing group's disappointment in his actions.
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"We're really disappointed in the position Taylor put himself in," Shaw said.
"We're still working through the legalities of that at the moment. We'll get to it maybe this afternoon, but we've still got to work through a few things.
"I'm disappointed in a lot of aspects of it. But at the moment, we're still working through that and hopefully we'll get a resolution really quickly."
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