Giansiracusa in the mix for North Melbourne gig
NEW Essendon assistant coach Daniel Giansiracusa is one of three final candidates for the North Melbourne role who will present to the Roos subcommittee on Wednesday and Thursday.
It was revealed on Tuesday that AFLCA assistant coach of the year Giansiracusa was the third candidate for the vacant head coach position alongside David Noble and Robert Harvey. The Roos have three very different candidates — Lions football boss Noble, long- time Magpies assistant Harvey and 38- year- old Giansiracusa coming off a five- year coaching stint at the Western Bulldogs.
The Bombers last month trumpeted their acquisition of Giansiracusa, who had seamlessly moved into coaching after a 265- game career at the Bulldogs. He has permission to apply for the Kangaroos job made vacant when the Roos came to a settlement with Rhyce Shaw after Shaw took time away from football with personal issues.
North chief executive Ben Amarfio would not confirm the identity of the club’s candidates, but said the process was not far from completion.
He said that, at a meeting on Tuesday, “we are going through the due diligence we have done on the candidates. There are three candidates left in the race so we are getting to the pointy end.
“We hopefully will be in a position in the next week or so to put our preferred candidate to the board and if the board signs off on it we will be in a position to make an announcement thereafter.”
Giansiracusa had been set to continue coaching the Bulldogs’ Footscray VFL side this year after taking them into the finals in 2019. But with the VFL season scrapped, he moved into working on opposition analysis as he also coached the club’s match simulation games.
Shaw was a two- time AFLCA coach of the year in his time at Sydney before moving to North Melbourne, where he took over from Brad Scott.
The Roos have been adamant they are interested in all types of coaches, including those with vast senior experience and those who have not coached their team.
But Giansiracusa has a blend of tactical acumen and man management skills, as well as having coached his own side in the VFL.