Four legendary coaches in the mix to shape 'hot' AFL market as Blues mull options post-Voss

The back half of 2026 is set to become a fascinating time in the AFL senior coach landscape, with potentially as many as three or four teams soon to be on the hunt for a new person at the top.

Tasmania is the obvious one, as the expansion club will find and name their inaugural coach at some stage this year ahead of a scheduled 2028 competition debut.

But as things continue to go south for Carlton, Essendon and West Coast, more changes could arise.

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Leading AFL reporter Cal Twomey believes the Devils will move first, potentially locking in their senior coach in the next few months.

"I think we're about to enter a stage where there's a competitive space for the next senior coaching appointment," Twomey told Nine's Footy Classified on Tuesday night.

"There are at least two clubs that we expect to be looking for a senior coach in the next month to six weeks. One we expect to be Carlton and the other is Tasmania.

"Tasmania has changed its plans in some ways. They had planned to have a footy boss appointed by mid-year and that person to be important in the hiring of the senior coach. That's flipped. My understanding is they'll appoint a senior coach and then wait until the end of the year to get through a football boss.

"That says to me two things. The market is going to be hot for a senior coach and they might be looking at similar candidates, but they might also be looking at an esteemed footy boss who doesn't want to leave (their club mid-season)."

Carlton sits at 1-7 after eight games, and it's hard to imagine the out of contract Michael Voss earns a contract extension from here.

That means whether it's at the end of the season or earlier, the Blues will be on the hunt for their next senior coach.

Things are a little murkier for Essendon and West Coast as both Brad Scott and Andrew McQualter have contracts for 2027. Neither would have come into this year thinking they needed to make a call on their coach, but both seasons are looking grim after the first two months.

The Bombers have won just one of their last 21 games of footy, while the Eagles have accumulated two 100-point losses and were beaten by the injury-depleted Richmond.

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd stated after the club's loss to Brisbane that Scott was "50-50" to remain at the club next year at this stage.

Regardless of whether it's two or four teams on the hunt, the pool of available coaches is certainly quite strong.

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is seen as the heavy favourite for the Tasmanian job, but Twomey believes that appointment is no certainty.

"I don't think he is a certainty anymore," he said.

"Speaking to a wide range of people, I think there's a few other candidates they will be looking at."

Buckley took up an assistant coaching role with Geelong in 2026 in order to get himself back into the mix and has been open about his pursuit of the Tassie job. At the same time, he has distanced himself from consideration for the potential Carlton job.

He told Fox Footy on Monday night that he "hasn't even thought about (coaching Carlton)".

Assuming Buckley does end up as the man for the Tassie job, that will leave the Blues with a lot of candidates to ponder.

But they have the right man for the job. Their CEO Graham Wright was the man who appointed now-premiership Collingwood coach Craig McRae at the Pies in 2021 after a lengthy and thorough search.

Carlton fans will hope Wright takes the same approach this time around, despite a few big names front and centre.

The oddest of those is West Coast premiership coach Adam Simpson, who has been working in the media the last two years after being sacked by the Eagles.

The reason for labelling him 'odd' lies in the fact that Simpson is already employed by the Blues in a part-time capacity. That role has included mentoring Voss and developing his leadership.

He has been strong (but not yet definitive) that he likely won't pursue the job if Voss is sacked, due to his relationship with the current coach.

Simpson naturally won't be in the mix for the Eagles job if that becomes available at any point, meaning Essendon could find themselves as the sole relevant party for his services, be it this year or next.

The other experienced coaches of interest are John Longmire and Ken Hinkley.

Again, Hinkley presents an awkward situation for the Blues. He was Voss' long-time mentor at Port Adelaide, with a lot of the Carlton coach's strategic philosophies coming from Hinkley.

It's hard to imagine the Blues will want a coach with such a similar profile, given the desire for change, but Hinkley has certainly built a reputation as a coach capable of leading a team to consistent finals action.

That leaves Longmire as the most likely experienced option for Carlton, should they choose to go down that path.

The veteran coach stepped aside at Sydney after the 2024 grand final out of nowhere, but has a premiership cup to his name and built a consistent contender at the Swans.

If Longmire does put his hand up, there's no doubt Tasmania, Essendon and West Coast will all make their own enquires as well.

But aside from those four experienced, big-name coaches, there's a strong group of untried assistants in the mix that will push for an opportunity.

We've seen how quickly Melbourne has turned things around under their new coach Steven King. Others like him with strong tactical and leadership nous are certainly available.

Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon was hugely impressed with Gold Coast assistant coach Shaun Grigg during the AFL Origin match in Perth earlier in the year.

Grigg worked alongside Geelong coach Chris Scott and Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, as well as Lyon, as part of the Victorian camp.

"Unbelievable. He was the nuts-and-bolts man while (Scott and Mitchell) oversaw. And he was at Carlton initially (as a player)," Lyon told SEN on Tuesday.

As well as Grigg, one name to watch closely is Fremantle assistant coach Jaymie Graham.

Graham was among the finalists for the Collingwood job run by Wright ultimately won by McRae. The other finalists were Voss himself and current GWS coach Adam Kingsley.

Former Geelong stars James Kelly, who is an assistant at the Cats, and Corey Enright (St Kilda assistant) are also seen as future AFL coaches, but might be a few years away experience wise.

Guys like Daniel Giansiracusa (Hawthorn), Scott Burns (Adelaide) and Brendon Lade (Bulldogs) have been in the mix for senior coaching jobs for nearly a decade now and would also be in the running for any upcoming vacancies.

Carlton made the call late in 2025 to back Voss in for this season, but after just eight games the split feels inevitable.

For now however, they head to Queensland to take on reigning premiers Brisbane on Friday night.