John Longmire has ruled himself out of the Essendon and Carlton coaching races.
The Sydney premiership coach had been deep in discussions with Tasmania for the vacant Devils job until it was won by former Port Adelaide boss Ken Hinkley on Monday.
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And while Hinkley had emerged as the favourite for the Tassie job in recent weeks, there was a strong view that Longmire’s desire to get back into senior coaching would see him still land in at least one of the other two vacancies.
But speaking to Fox Sports on Wednesday night, Longmire said it has “become clear” that he is not ready to get back into the hot seat at all.
“No, I’m not,” he said.
“I certainly explored it, I went down the path, I looked at it seriously, there’s no question with that.
“But I’m really fortunate, I helped start a business up here 18 months ago that I’m really jumping into and enjoying.”
Longmire, who has remained in a part-time role with the Swans since stepping down as senior coach ahead of the 2025 season, said he wants to continue living in Sydney, watch his kids play sport, and do some travel.
John Longmire resigned as coach of the Swans after the 2024 grand final. Credit: Getty
The news came as a surprise to St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt.
“That feels like a bombshell to me,” Riewoldt told The Agenda Setters on Wednesday night.
“I said on Monday night that it was inconceivable to me that John Longmire would go zero out of three for the Tasmania, Carlton and Essendon jobs, given his body of work, his resume and his apparent desire to coach and put his hat in the ring for the Tasmania role.”
Hinkley won the role ahead of Longmire and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, who publicly declared on multiple occasions that he was chips-in on Tasmania.
Tom Morris said Longmire’s interest in the Devils didn’t match that of Hinkley or Buckley.
“And in fairness, this is not revisionist; he was saying this to people publicly and privately for the last few weeks,” Morris said.
Mitch Cleary added: “He was keeping his cards close to his chest for a lot of that.”
Riewoldt: “But he was still a part of the Tassie process, was he not?”
Morris: “They asked each other questions; Tasmania asked him questions, he asked Tassie questions.”
Riewoldt: “But he was still a part of the process. And so what happens if Tassie had turned around and said, we want you to coach?”
Morris: “I think if Tassie had said, ‘We are all in on you’, it would have been very hard for him to knock them back. Put it that way.
“I think he wanted to know he had the job rather than missing out being all in.
“Nathan Buckley put everything on the line. I don’t think John Longmire, for a number of different reasons, was willing to do the same as that.”
Riewoldt: “But if you’re not ready to coach, why would you not have withdrawn from the process?”
Morris: “Well, it’s a matter of conjecture whether he did withdraw or not.
“Some people do think that he withdrew. So it depends who you speak to on these things.
“It’s unarguable that he wasn’t as deep in this as Ken Hinckley or Nathan Buckley. Like, they wanted it more.”
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