RODNEY Eade says the fire still burns to be a senior AFL coach.

But he's unsure whether he wants the vacant job at Melbourne.

Eade, who took the Sydney Swans to the 1996 grand final and the Western Bulldogs to successive preliminary finals in 2008-10 - as part of seven-year stints at each club - is expected to be one of the leading candidates.

But the 55-year-old said he was enjoying his job as Collingwood's football and coaching strategist and wouldn't necessarily leap straight into the Demons job even if they wanted him.

"If they did happen to want to have a chat, well we'd see what happened then," Eade told Fox Footy's AFL 360 on Monday night.

"But if they didn't, that's no drama. I'm certainly happy where I am at the moment."

Eade acknowledged the desire to return to senior coaching hadn't waned.

"I've still got that fire in the gut," he said.

But he noted he had felt the same way last year when the Port Adelaide coaching position opened up and eventually decided against taking that job.

"I said I had the fire in the belly but, for a few reasons, that didn't work out," he said.

"Probably in my case, I didn't want to take the job and didn't want to go any further with it as far as talking about it."

Eade said he wouldn't be approaching the Demons, but it was up to them whether they approached him.

"That's out of my hands. I'm not going to talk to anyone as far as putting my hand up. I'm totally focused at Collingwood," he said.

"I'm really enjoying my role."

Essendon senior assistant Mark Thompson, who guided Geelong to two premierships, ruled himself out.

"No. I just don't want to do it," Thompson said.