New Melbourne coach Steven King has Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in his ideal side for 2026

King was announced as the Simon Goodwin’s replacement on Friday, winning out over a field of five, of which Buckley was always seen as the hot favourite.

Buckley told Fox Footy on Friday night that he wanted to wait until he met with Tasmania Devils top brass this Tuesday before making a genuine commitment to the Melbourne gig.

Instead of waiting, the Demons jumped on Geelong assistant King for the job, and Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra said that he was their best choice, even over Buckley.

The other applicants interviewed were James Kelly, Brendon Lade and Daniel Giansiracusa, while Pies assistant Hayden Skipworth pulled out of the running.

“Ultimately, the Melbourne Football Club, we got our man,” Guerra told 3AW.

“(Buckley) came through our process, we enjoyed the conversation. Ultimately though, when you get your man you get your man. And our view, the (coach appointment) panel’s view was that Steven King was our man and that is the position we went ahead with.”

Melbourne had targeted making an appointment in preliminary final week and went slightly early by naming King on Friday, but Guerra said there was no rush behind the decision.

King will coach out the finals campaign as midfield coach with the Cats under Chris Scott before moving to the Dees.

“When we landed on Steven we knew that Geelong was still going so we didn’t want to disrupt their season either,” Guerra said.

“When it was decided on Steven, we thought the earlier we could get this out, the less impact it was going to have on a final this weekend and for Steven and the Geelong footy club, the less impact it will have on their campaign as well.”

The Dees have held a position that any potential discussions around trading Petracca, Oliver and any other star players would be held off until a coach was appointed and could have their say.

Part of the interview process involved coaches listing their ‘best 25’ Demons players and King firmly put Petracca and Oliver in there.

Both players tested the waters of trades last year, were denied and remain under hefty contracts.

“He sees them in our best 25,” Guerra said.

“We have been clear about the fact that both of those are superstars. We understand why the media interest is there … the fact is they are contracted to the Melbourne footy club and we love that.

“When Steven put his best 25 up, they are in it.”

Guerra said King, who captained Geelong and played in the 2007 premiership before a lengthy coaching career that has seen him stop at St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast and the Cats, would push the Demons into a modern game style, having stalled out under Goodwin by the end of his tenure.

The Dees will keep multiple assistants on board in the changeover and King “doesn’t want to tip everything out”.

“He described to us where he thought we were focusing versus where the modern game has been going. He will help us make those adjustments in there,” Guerra said.