Gold Coast have presented Rodney Eade with a belated chance to fix the one glaring gap in his outstanding AFL career.
The 56-year-old will take over from Guy McKenna as the Suns' coach, with the appointment expected to be made official by the end of the week.
Of the 19 men to coach 300 or more matches in VFL/AFL history, Eade and John Northey are the only ones not to have guided a team to a premiership.
Eade has gone close, with Sydney making the 1996 grand final and the Western Bulldogs playing in the 2008-10 preliminary finals.
Four years into their AFL life, the Suns are stacked with talent and they appear a perfect fit for a well-credentialled veteran coach such as Eade.
They appeared headed for their first finals series this year, before captain Gary Ablett suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in round 16.
The Suns lost six of their last seven games and this fadeout was a key factor in McKenna losing the job on October 1.
Eade is expected to join the Suns on a three-year deal and the essence of his brief will be to take the fledgling team as far as possible into September.
The four-time Hawthorn premiership player is a highly-respected figure in the game.
After leaving the Bulldogs in 2011, Eade joined Collingwood and appeared unlikely to coach his own team again.
He took over last year as their football director.
But it emerged last week that the Suns had identified Eade as their man and would make a major pitch for him.
Eade met with the Suns on Monday and 24 hours later had decided to accept their offer.
He won the job ahead of current Gold Coast assistants Dean Solomon and Andy Lovell.
But before Gold Coast unveil Eade as their new coach, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made it clear they will have to negotiate his release from the Magpies.
Eade's departure this late in the year means Collingwood will have to scramble to find a new football department boss.
"Certainly when you have people on long-term contracts and you have your people in place, then to do a deal, you have to do a deal," McGuire said on Triple M.
"Part of that would be, they'd want to be paying part of his fee.
"I don't think there would be any problems, but what they have to do is, they have to do a deal."
AFL commentator Luke Darcy, who played under Eade at the Bulldogs, was enthusiastic on Monday morning about his old coach making a comeback.
"My inkling is that he has unfinished business in that department," Darcy said.
"He got very close with Sydney and very close with the Bulldogs and he'd be a great choice - he's a great coach."
Eade's upcoming appointment will leave the Bulldogs as the only team yet to confirm their senior coach for next season.
RODNEY EADE
* DOB: 4/4/58
* Played 229 games at Hawthorn 1976-87 (four premierships) and 30 at Brisbane 1989-90
* Coached Brisbane to 1991 reserves premiership
* Coached Sydney 1996-2002, Western Bulldogs 2005-11, total 314 games
* Coaching record: won 169, lost 141, drawn four, 54 per cent win-loss ratio
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