COACH Paul Roos says the Demons will continue their search for his successor, but says three-time Geelong premiership player and now media commentator Cameron Ling was never in the mix to take over from him.

Earlier in the week, Ling said he was set to continue his emerging football media career, instead of turning to coaching.

Roos said the Demons met with the 2011 Geelong premiership captain, but it was purely for an assistant coaching role.

“We’ll continue our search, but it was very clear that Cameron didn’t want to seek the senior job as a succession plan and we’d never offered it to him,” he said on Roos’ Views.

“He was purely coming in as an assistant coach and the succession [role] is an ongoing discussion and we’ll continue to have some dialogue – within the parametres, respecting other clubs’ finals and their staff – making sure we don’t cross the line anywhere.”

Roos said Ling had been “really open” with the Demons in their three meetings.

“He was pretty clear about it from day one that he didn’t see himself as a senior coach and he was really honest. I think at the end of the day, we spoke to him about an assistant role, when he thought he may be interested in coaching – it wasn’t a senior coaching role [offered to him],” he said.

“We then spoke to him about an assistant role and that was on the basis that there was some speculation. I’d read that we’d offered him a senior succession – that’s not true.

“He didn’t want to be a senior coach at that stage and we felt there was some real benefit in getting Cameron to the club as an assistant coach. Again, he’s been super honest with us and it’s been great to chat to him. He’s a high quality person and I think he’s made the right decision.

“I spoke to him a couple of days ago and said that to him. I think he’s made the right decision for his family and for himself. But he’s certainly a high, quality individual.”