AFL news: Essendon appoints Dan McPherson to new head of performance role
Essendon has made two key appointments to its football department as its drastic shake-up continues. See who’s joining the rebuild at Tullamarine.
Essendon has appointed former North Melbourne football manager Dan McPherson to fill its new head of performance role as part of its football department revamp.
The Bombers have undergone mass change in recent months and have appointed McPherson and new head of development Cam Roberts to new roles.
Essendon has high hopes its new-look football department can help unite the club and fast-track the development of its young players after 18 years without a finals win.
McPherson and Roberts will work closely with football manager Josh Mahoney and senior coach Brad Scott as they look to take the Bombers up the ladder next season.
McPherson played a key support role as football operations manager at Melbourne in its 2021 premiership campaign, while Roberts has been promoted at Essendon from development coach and VFL assistant coach.
McPherson was praised for his work at the Dees but parted ways with the Kangaroos last year after one season as football manager alongside ex-coach David Noble.
Mahoney said McPherson, who played 111 games for Sydney Swans between 1994-2003, would bring all the required skills.
“Dan has high-level experience as both a player and football administrator, is a great football person and highly respected throughout the industry,” Mahoney said.
“We’re all very excited to have him join the Bombers and lead a key part of our football program.
“He’s had a lot of success driving winning football programs across men’s and women’s football and he understands what it takes to build a successful team off-field.”
Roberts will head up a bolstered development team including Travis Cloke, Michael Hurley and Brent Stanton.
Leigh Tudor will coach the VFL team.
The Bombers said Roberts and his staff will focus on developing the first-to-fourth-year players’ skill development and football craft.
“We have been impressed with Cam’s contribution to Essendon and this new coaching structure will support him to best progress our players,” Mahoney said.
“He shares a similar philosophy to Brad Scott on the development of players and have been impressed with his commitment and determination to getting the best out of all players.
“Cam’s life and coaching experiences, relationships, positive attitude, and planning processes, made him a perfect candidate for this role and we look forward to Cam heading up a great group of development coaches and pulling together a program that improves all Essendon players.”
Roberts and McPherson began at Tullamarine on Wednesday.
Originally published as AFL news: Essendon appoints Dan McPherson to new head of performance role
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