Essendon’s ruck department will receive a major boost next season with two-time premiership ruckman Simon Madden set to return to Windy Hill to take up the position of 2009 ruck coach.

“It is good to be back at Essendon. It has been a long journey in between but is really good to finally be back at Windy Hill where it all began,” Madden said.

“There is a lot of excitement around the club at the moment about the future of the football club and there are a lot of talented young players so it is good to be back.

The four-time club best and fairest will work closely with David Hille, Jason Laycock and Tom Bellchambers in a part-time capacity, focusing on ruckwork, marking, game involvement and follow-up work around stoppages.

“David Hille’s form was fantastic last year. He won the club best and fairest and that is fantastic for him. I would imagine he would be looking at keeping that form and improving on it,” Madden said.

“Jason Laycock has a lot of potential – he has played forward and played in the ruck and I think we can work on getting him into the ruck more in order to show his true potential there.

“And Tom Bellchambers is a fantastic big-bodied fella with lots of go and just really raw. He is only a youngster but he has a lot of potential.”
 
Madden played 378 games and kicked 575 goals in his career at Essendon which spanned 18 years.
 

Football operations manager Paul Hamilton said Madden’s wealth of experience makes him the perfect candidate for the new coaching role.

“We are excited about the prospect of Simon joining our coaching group for season 2009,” Hamilton said.

“Not only is he the club’s greatest ever ruckman and the club games record holder but he has the ability to teach and articulate the finer points of being a successful ruckman.

“He is a person of the highest quality and we believe that his experience and character perfectly rounds off our coaching appointments for next year.”