NORTH Melbourne premiership player Anthony Rock is set to join Fremantle as an assistant coach in 2016.

Rock is set to reunite with Fremantle coach Ross Lyon after the pair worked together at St Kilda in 2007 and 2008.

He looms as one of the replacements for assistant coaches Brett Kirk and Simon Lloyd who departed the club this week.

Kirk is returning home to Sydney to join the Swans after three seasons as the Dockers' midfield coach and Lloyd has joined Geelong in a new role as director of coaching following a six-year stint at Fremantle as an assistant coach and the senior development coach.

Dockers chief executive Steve Rosich could not comment on any specific coaching appointments at this stage.

"We are still in the process of finalising our staffing structure for season 2016 and will be in a position to make an announcement in due course," Rosich told AFL.com.au.

The departures have paved the way for Rock to re-enter the AFL coaching ranks.

He played 222 games with North Melbourne and Hawthorn, including the 1996 premiership with the Kangaroos before retiring in 2001 after winning a VFL premiership with Box Hill.

Rock then coached North Ballarat in the TAC Cup for three seasons before stints at Melbourne (2005-06), St Kilda (2007-08) and North Melbourne (2009) as assistant coaches.

He was the midfield coach at the Saints when working under Lyon.

Rock had a year off in 2010 before coaching Greenvale in the Essendon District Football League (EDFL) and won successive premierships in 2012 and 2013.

He then joined St Bernard's in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) and capped a two-year stint with a premiership this season.