Perth still searching for their next coach
Perth will readvertise for a new senior coach in a bid to generate fresh interest in the vacant role after an unsuccessful recruitment process.
The battling WAFL club narrowed a short list of candidates down to former Fremantle assistant Todd Curley before offering the job to the 41-year-old last week.
But the 118-game Western Bulldogs and Collingwood defender instead took the head position at South Fremantle, forcing the Demons back to the drawing board in their search for a replacement for sacked coach Damien McMahon.
Four-times WAFL premiership coach John Dimmer and former North Melbourne football manager Jon Haines will again screen the candidates as members of the coaching advisory committee.
Perth chief executive Marty Atkins confirmed the role had been reopened, with a revised closing date of September 19.
"We feel this is one of the most important decisions that we've got to make," Atkins said.
"Initially when we first set up the committee, they were advised that whilst we want to appoint the coach as soon as possible we won't be restricted by time.
"The best situation for the club is that if we don't get someone before the season ends then our fallback was always going to be that we'd reopen it until the end of September.
"By September 19, there's going to be another eight to 12 AFL and WAFL teams that have finished. We knew that we'd get a different selection of coaches."
Atkins acknowledged Curley had chosen not to accept the offer from Perth, but said he was "not worried" about finding a suitably qualified coach.
"I'm not going to hide away from that," Atkins said.
"We were obviously very interested in Todd Curley as well. Obviously Todd's made his decision to go to Souths, which then takes him out of the running.
"Other guys that we were interested in for one reason or another withdrew or couldn't go forward. We had a couple of guys that we didn't consider at first because they were in the AFL system and they also were a little more complicated, so to speak, in relation to them arriving at Lathlain.
"They can certainly be reconsidered now because we've opened up the period again.
"That's the reason why we've done it … we've got some players that have told us they're just holding off to see who the new coach is. It does put a bit more pressure on us to make sure we do get a (good) coach."
The vacant job has been readvertised on the AFL and WAFL websites.
Perth received 12 applications during the initial window.
The Demons will finish last unless they can snap a 13-game losing streak by defeating West Perth at Lathlain Park tomorrow and leapfrog Peel on percentage.
