Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains has penned the following letter to the Club's members and fans, to provide a football department update.
To our Bulldogs members and fans,
In the wash up of the disappointing end to our AFL season we committed to examine all areas of our men’s football program, to identify opportunity for improvement.
Due to a combination of difficult decisions and organic change, several personnel changes have been made to our AFL program.
New Appointments
As we continue to mould our men’s football program into what we believe will give our players the best chance of success, I’m excited to confirm two key appointments in the coaching space.
Matthew Egan has been appointed as the Club’s Coaching and Performance Manager. This newly created position will closely support Senior Coach Luke Beveridge in a coaching capacity and will oversee the development and growth of the entire coaching team.
The position will also see Matthew perform a range of administrative functions in supporting Executive Director of Football, Chris Grant, on broader football program activities.
An All-Australian defender in his playing days, Matthew was unfortunately forced to retire after 59 games, due to a serious foot injury.
Since then, he has developed an impressive coaching resume, including Head of Development at Geelong, an assistant coach to Simon Goodwin at Melbourne, and various coaching roles at Essendon, including interim senior coach at the end of 2015.
The Club’s other coaching appointment is Daniel Pratt, who will join our Club in an assistant coaching role focused on the backline and team defensive system.
Daniel played 119 games with Brisbane and North Melbourne, before moving into coaching at the West Coast Eagles, spending a decade as an assistant coach under Adam Simpson.
The 40-year-old was most notably a key member of the Eagles’ 2018 Premiership triumph, where he served as backline and defensive system coach.
As we welcome Matthew and Daniel and their families to the Club, we are well advanced in completing our coaching roster, with two new development coaches and a goalkicking coach to be appointed in the near future.
Separately, the Club will in coming weeks also finalise the appointment of two other senior roles critical in supporting our players and program, namely a new Head of Physical Performance and a new Chief Medical Officer, following the respective departures of the long-serving and well-respected Mathew Inness and Dr Greg Clugston.
We look forward to sharing these announcements soon, along with providing further insight into the process we continue to undertake in evaluating and strengthening our men’s football program ahead of the 2024 season.
Trade Period
On the playing front our List and Recruiting team, led by Sam Power and Dom Milesi, have overseen another successful AFL trade period.
James Harmes’ arrival from the Demons adds a different dimension to our experienced midfield group. The 152 game, premiership player, will make an immediate impact next season.
Nick Coffield brings exciting attributes as a past top-10 draft pick from St Kilda. While injury has curtailed his recent football, at just 23 years of age, Nick has plenty of strong football ahead of him.
The acquisition of a top five pick in the upcoming National Draft, and the commitment from father-son prospect Jordan Croft, also puts the Club in an exciting position ahead of November’s National Draft.
We farewell Jordon Sweet who was traded to Port Adelaide and wish him well on his move home in search of greater opportunity.
We also pay special tribute to Toby McLean, who departed the Club last week, and wish him the very best. An outstanding person, Toby will always be remembered as a 2016 premiership player who gave his all for the Bulldogs every time he stepped onto the field.
AFLW
While the AFL program continues its off-season, our women’s team enters the final stage of its 2023 campaign.
While it clearly hasn’t been the season we had hoped for given our stark results and litany of heartbreaking injuries, our players and staff are determined to finish the season as strongly as possible.
We encourage all Bulldogs supporters to get to VU Whitten Oval this Saturday afternoon to support the team against Sydney, as we celebrate the second week of the AFLW Indigenous Rounds.
Like the men’s program, we will leave no stone unturned in identifying improvements in all aspects of our women’s football program in coming weeks, as we ensure both our AFL and AFLW teams return to finals action in 2024.
We thank you for your ongoing support and passion of the red, white and blue.
Go Dogs.
Ameet Bains
Western Bulldogs CEO
