Highly rated assistant coach Corey Enright has met with North Melbourne, just days after taking up a role at Geelong.
In a somewhat curious move, Enright was spotted at a cafe with Kangaroos head of football Todd Viney on Thursday morning.
North are hunting a new senior coach after the shock sacking of four-time premiership mentor Alastair Clarkson at the end of the season.
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The meeting with Enright comes just three days after Geelong announced the club great will return in a coaching role.
Enright won three premierships across his 322-game playing career with the Cats, which included two best and fairests and six All-Australians.
He then transitioned into a coaching role at the club before spending the past five years at St Kilda where he was Ross Lyon’s senior assistant.
Enright was among the leading candidates for Carlton’s coaching role after Michael Voss’ departure.
After missing out on that and departing the Saints, Enright opted to return to the Cats amid heavy interest from other clubs including Collingwood.
But there still might be another twist in his future.
If he was to land the North gig, it would be a similar situation to Luke Beveridge, who left Hawthorn to join St Kilda in 2014, only to be appointed at the Dogs a fortnight later.
The Enright meeting comes a day after Viney met with another Geelong assistant in Nathan Buckley, who has emerged as a serious contender for the job, according to 7NEWS reporter Tom Morris.
Buckley coached Collingwood for 10 seasons between 2012 and 2021, taking them to the 2018 grand final where they were beaten by West Coast in a five-point thriller.
The 54-year-old transitioned into a role within footy media after leaving the Magpies, but showed he still had an itch to scratch within coaching when he joined Geelong as an assistant ahead of this season.
Buckley was mooted as an early frontrunner for the Tasmania job, with his re-emergence at clubland seen as a stepping stone to lead the Devils, but was ultimately beaten for the job by former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.
“We can tell you tonight that Nathan Buckley, the former Collingwood coach, has emerged as a serious candidate to take over the North Melbourne vacant coaching job,” Morris said on 7NEWS.
“The Kangaroos’ footy boss, Todd Viney, caught up with Nathan Buckley this morning for coffee, and North offered Bucks a four-year deal back in ‘09 before he took over the Collingwood gig.
“And close confidants of Buckley tell me he’s eager to explore the role and has been doing work on the list and the club for some time.”
Club greats John Longmire and Adam Simpson were immediately linked to the role but have both decided to not enter the process.
It’s believed Viney suggested to the Simpson camp that although the process was open, their research told them that second time coaches are less likely to be successful.