West Coast coaching candidate Steven King has landed in Perth for interviews with the club as it continues its hunt for Adam Simpson’s replacement.

King has made a rapid-fire trip west just days before Geelong — where he is an assistant coach — play a preliminary final at the MCG on Saturday night.

The former Geelong and St Kilda player said he felt his dream of becoming a senior coach was “close to a reality” as he headed to Perth to meet the Eagles’ selection panel.

King was an interim coach at Gold Coast last year before returning to the Cats as an assistant and is believed to be one of the final contenders for the Eagles job.

“I’m not sure where that sits at the moment, just looking to get over there, meet the panel and see where that takes us,” he told Channel 10 at Melbourne Airport.

“To be honest, I guess it’s a lot of hard work I’ve done over the years, it’s something I have always aspired to do and I’m in a really fortunate position where it’s close to becoming a reality.”

King said the ongoing recruitment process at the Eagles was not a distraction during the Cats’ push for a second premiership in three years.

“Clearly where I’m at at the moment, I work for a fantastic footy club in the Geelong footy club and we have a preliminary final to concentrate on this week, so most of my focus is on Saturday night at the MCG,” he said.

“It’s easy, that’s been the majority of my focus. This is just something that’s been bubbling away in the background which I’ve been preparing for a long time.”