Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce Matthew Egan has been appointed the Head of Player Development and VFL Coach.

Egan replaces Mark Neeld who has moved into the newly created role of Game Performance Manager and Hayden Skipworth who has been appointed as a Line Coach for the 2016 season.

The 32 year-old said he was excited about his new position.

“Coaching the AFL team for the final few rounds of 2015 gave me an appetite to want to coach my own team,” Egan said.

“To coach the VFL team and work alongside John Worsfold is something I’m really looking forward to, and I have to thank the Club for providing me with this fantastic opportunity to further my coaching career.

“Player development has always been a passion of mine, it’s an extremely rewarding job and I’m fortunate to be supported by a group of talented and passionate development coaches.”

General Manager of Football, Rob Kerr, said Egan was excited about taking the reins of the VFL.

“To have a couple of years coaching the VFL team under his belt is a really important step in Matt’s development, and his appointment to the new role flows nicely from his experience of senior coaching at an AFL level,” Kerr said.

“He’s going to learn a lot about himself, he’s going to learn a lot more about the trade, and he’s going to receive fantastic support from the senior coach which will in turn fast track his development."

Egan joined the Club as an Assistant Coach for the 2012 season. After two seasons as the forward line coach, Egan made the transition to backline coach in 2014.

Kerr said the Club’s youth will flourish under Egan’s tutelage.

“His track record, particularly as defensive coach, shows he does a good job of developing players,” Kerr said.

“We believe Matt is the perfect candidate to build on the strong foundations Mark Neeld has established.

“Particularly with a younger group, the players really thrive when coaches take a nurturing approach to their coaching, and this is certainly a quality Matt bases his coaching philosophy on.”

Egan will be supported by Development Coaches Mark Corrigan and Paul Corrigan.

A decision on the final Line Coaching position is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.