West Coast's John Worsfold met with Mark Harvey over a possible coaching role, but has ruled out the former Dockers coach heading up the Stirling Highway to join the Eagles.
Newspaper reports had suggested Harvey, who is keen to stay in Perth, may have been in line to replace Peter Sumich at the Eagles, after Sumich opted to join Fremantle to be an assistant under Ross Lyon at the Dockers.
That door was closed last week when the Eagles promoted from within, elevating Justin Longmuir from a development role into Sumich's position as forwards coach.
Worsfold, though, has said he did consider Harvey for the role, but felt he wasn't sure the position was right for the sacked Dockers coach.
"Peter Sumich was my senior assistant until last year, and I changed our coaching structure around a fair bit – that position did not really exist any more," Worsfold told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Monday night.
"I spoke to Harves about that and the possible roles that we were looking at and that was not really going to fit in with the experience he was going to bring and where he wanted to take the next step in football."
"We approached him to find out where he was at and what his thoughts were around his continuation in the game – so both parties were very clear about where that sat."
Although Sumich, West Coast's assistant during the 2006 premiership, will be missed by the Eagles, Worsfold, who himself only signed a two-year contract extension last week, was still glad not to have lost more people from his coaching group.
Midfield coach Scott Burns had been heavily touted as the favourite to be installed as coach at Adelaide before Brenton Sanderson was named, while strategist Phil Walsh was tipped to return to Port Adelaide, where he previously worked when the Power won the 2004 flag.
Neither of those moves eventually took place, allowing Worsfold the luxury of keeping his coaching group together as the Eagles look to improve on last season's surprise preliminary final appearance.
"We were very keen to keep Scott Burns here," Worsfold said. "But very excited if he did get a senior opportunity."
"The fact that he stays with us really helps us with our development for another year or two while we have got him."