Adelaide is expected to appoint Neil Craig as the AFL club's next coach on Thursday after calling an unscheduled board meeting on Wednesday night.

Craig, who took over as Crows interim coach when Gary Ayres was told in June he was not wanted, is expected to be formally named as Adelaide's coach.

Craig, 46, has coached the Crows to two wins and four losses since Ayres' departure.

After Terry Wallace's appointment at Richmond on Tuesday, Craig's appointment will leave just Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs as the two clubs yet to name coaches for 2005.

With Hawthorn warming to Ayres and Eade understood to be interviewed by the Bulldogs this week, the coaching jigsaw could all be in place soon after weeks of speculation.

Eade has also spoken with Collingwood, which would like to give him a role under Mick Malthouse, possibly as coaching director or match-day tactician.

But the Magpies coach on Wednesday insisted while Collingwood did not want to stand in the way of Eade's aspirations to coach his own side, its patience was limited.

"I don't think it's in our interests to get in the road of him (Eade) aspiring to be a senior coach again, but certainly this will not drag on, I can assure you," Malthouse said.

"We are not going to procrastinate on this, we are not going to be waiting that long."

Eade has already declared the Bulldogs job to be a potentially attractive one, and if he is appointed it will leave highly-regarded assistants Mark Harvey (Essendon) and Gary O'Donnell (Brisbane) still without their own senior sides.

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