The Brisbane Lions are determined to find the best possible candidate to fill their vacant Senior Coach position, and remain open-minded to potential coaching structures.

Some recent media reports have suggested that the Lions are looking to implement a succession plan model, however the Club said it would not be narrowing their focus on one possible outcome.

“It’s one option that we’ll consider,” Lions General Manager of Football Operations Dean Warren told Dom Fay and Michael Whiting as part of the recent Fancast on LIONS TV.

“We’ll keep an open mind on what structure or model we might put in place.

“We’re certainly not locking ourselves into one particular model. Ultimately we’re looking for the very best senior coach available in the current pool.”

Warren also confirmed that the Club has no preference for a candidate with previous AFL senior coaching experience, as opposed to one that is relatively unproven at senior level.

“When you say ‘unproven’, a lot of the coaches you may consider who are current assistants have been in an AFL system coaching role for four years or more,” Warren said.

“So they’ve had a really good apprenticeship, working in some cases with very successful clubs and successful environments, and been exposed to good cultures.

“Yes, they may not have been a senior coach before, but certainly as an assistant coach they’ve had an opportunity to prepare themselves appropriately to take on a senior role.”

Warren, who is chair of the Lions’ coaching selection panel, said a lot of work has already gone into identifying the best possible candidates.

“We’ve been working on short-listing a number of candidates and will start interviewing people over the next week or so,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot of due diligence as to who’s in the market, we know which coaches are at which clubs. We’ve spoken with a number of people in the industry as to how they’re developing as coaches – particularly those assistant coaches who are aspiring to be senior coaches.

“There are a few experienced coaches out there as well that have coached senior AFL football before, and we know what their reputation is like.

“We just talk to as many people as we can. There’s also an interview process, but that will form just one part of it.”

Warren revealed that the interview process would commence this week, with the final appointment likely to be made before the end of the month.

“There’s 5-6 (candidates) that we’ll be talking to over the next number of weeks,” he said.

“We hope the process will be completed by the end of September, certainly the first week of October, before the Free Agency and Trade Period starts.

“Out of respect for the various candidates, I won’t reveal the various names.”