The vacant West Coast senior coaching role is unlikely to be filled by the club's next premiership coach, says premiership Eagle Will Schofield.
The Eagles are nearing the end of an extensive search to find the person to replace the departed Adam Simpson, who coached his final game at the Western Australian club in early July.
The flag-winning coach's exit came midway through another difficult campaign for the powerhouse club, which has claimed just 10 wins in three seasons.
Simpson's successor will inherit a young squad that is likely to be placed toward the lower rungs on the ladder for the years to come, while there is potential for a rise back to premiership contention after entering a rebuild well prior to the club's coaching change.
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Speaking on Zero Hanger's 2024 Season Review series, Schofield said a number of coaching options weren't "going to be jumping" at the chance to coach the club given the potential struggles that could ensue in the next several seasons.
"The pro-positioners over [in Western Australia] say that this is one of the best coaching positions you could undertake," Schofield said.
"You'd be highly paid, you're at a well-resourced footy club, you've got a great fanbase, you've got a potentially good list. There's a lot of positives around what this position is.
"But my view is I don't think this next coach is looked at as the next premiership coach. I think it's pretty unlikely this group is going to win a flag in the next five years.
"So if you're Dean Cox (for example) and you're looking at this, you're going 'Am I going to leave my current position, where I have great respect and a great position within a football club, to go and look after my own, and I'm not necessarily going to be the guy'. I don't know if you're going to be jumping at that.
"My overall position is that West Coast have had a little trouble in getting people that they want to coach the football club. People aren't scrambling over each other to get it.
"It seems like a slow process. I can't comment if they've got it right or wrong, but from an outside point of view it doesn't look to have been a smooth one."
As far as candidates, the Eagles met with three contenders this week who are viewed to be the final names in the running to replace Simpson.
Geelong's Steven King, Melbourne's Andrew McQualter and Collingwood's Hayden Skipworth all flew to Perth to speak with West Coast's search panel in recent days as the Eagles look to appoint their next senior coach as early as the end of this month.
Speaking on the situation, Schofield revealed King is viewed as the favoured candidate but would also need to consider the potentially poisoned chalice that is the West Coast role.
"My word is Steven King is the guy they want," the BackChat Podcast host said.
"He's coaching Geelong right now. He's coached at St Kilda, Gold Coast and the Bulldogs, he's been a premiership player, a captain of Geelong, a best and fairest. He's pretty much done it all and been in the game coaching for 20 years.
"He looks like the guy. All reports he's a good developer of players, which you're going to have to be. But he's still going to have to look at this as 'Can I make this my own and turn it around quick enough to be the next premiership coach?' Because that's what you want to do in the end, you don't want to be a coach just to be a coach. You want to win flags."
The Eagles have recorded bottom three finishes in the past three seasons after managing equally as many in the years prior to their poor run of results this century.