MELBOURNE has made two football department appointments with Wayne Oswald joining the club in the new position of personal development manager and Craig Notman taking on the football operations manager role.
Oswald comes to the club after an outstanding football administration career with the Prahran/Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup, where he has served as its region manager since its inception in 1992.
There he was involved with now Melbourne players Simon Buckley, Shane Valenti and Matthew Warnock.
Notman, who has been Kevin Sheehan's right-hand man at the AFL for the past five years as talent coordinator, replaces Ross Monaghan, who has joined Richmond as its football operations manager.
Melbourne football operations general manager Chris Connolly said Oswald's appointment was important, considering the club's young list.
"Wayne has a wealth of experience, having been in charge of the Sandringham Dragons for the last 16 years. He has an outstanding reputation throughout the competition and he's well known," Connolly told melbournefc.com.au.
"It's a great coup for the club to have him come to the club as a sea-change and take on the challenge of developing the young players within the club and also having him help develop a lot of our young staff members."
Connolly said Notman had built up a fine administration career within the AFL.
"Craig has worked closely with Kevin Sheehan and Alan McConnell at the AFL during the past five years and has played an integral part in the continued growth of the AFL under 16 and 18 championships and AIS/AFL Academy," Connolly said.
"His outstanding work-ethic, knowledge and experience – combined with his previous work at AFL Tasmania and the Murray Bushrangers – makes him a great acquisition for the Melbourne footy club."
Oswald, who starts in November, said it was a "no-brainer" to join Melbourne.
"It's a pretty natural progression. It's taken a long time to make that step, but I've always wanted to and I'm obviously delighted Melbourne has recognised something in me and they've offered me the role," Oswald told melbournefc.com.au.
"It's a brand new job in the AFL, so to speak – a personal development coach. It's a bigger picture role. It looks at creating links, bonds and relationships back to the coaching group. It's giving assistance into the insight of the players."
Oswald said after meeting with Melbourne officials, it was an offer too good to refuse.
"I was really impressed by Jim Stynes, Cameron Schwab and Chris Connolly. They took me into the CEO's office and the boardroom at the MCG. I was a bit star-struck by that anyway, but they were open and honest with where it was at," he said.
"To get it back to where it's been – that's a massive challenge. But they had fantastic vision of where they want to go and anybody that didn't want to be part of that ride really isn't interested in footy – I mean it's the Melbourne footy club."
Meanwhile, Connolly said coach Dean Bailey is currently going through the process of finding a replacement for midfield coach Paul Williams.
for melbournefc.com.au
Oswald comes to the club after an outstanding football administration career with the Prahran/Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup, where he has served as its region manager since its inception in 1992.
There he was involved with now Melbourne players Simon Buckley, Shane Valenti and Matthew Warnock.
Notman, who has been Kevin Sheehan's right-hand man at the AFL for the past five years as talent coordinator, replaces Ross Monaghan, who has joined Richmond as its football operations manager.
Melbourne football operations general manager Chris Connolly said Oswald's appointment was important, considering the club's young list.
"Wayne has a wealth of experience, having been in charge of the Sandringham Dragons for the last 16 years. He has an outstanding reputation throughout the competition and he's well known," Connolly told melbournefc.com.au.
"It's a great coup for the club to have him come to the club as a sea-change and take on the challenge of developing the young players within the club and also having him help develop a lot of our young staff members."
Connolly said Notman had built up a fine administration career within the AFL.
"Craig has worked closely with Kevin Sheehan and Alan McConnell at the AFL during the past five years and has played an integral part in the continued growth of the AFL under 16 and 18 championships and AIS/AFL Academy," Connolly said.
"His outstanding work-ethic, knowledge and experience – combined with his previous work at AFL Tasmania and the Murray Bushrangers – makes him a great acquisition for the Melbourne footy club."
Oswald, who starts in November, said it was a "no-brainer" to join Melbourne.
"It's a pretty natural progression. It's taken a long time to make that step, but I've always wanted to and I'm obviously delighted Melbourne has recognised something in me and they've offered me the role," Oswald told melbournefc.com.au.
"It's a brand new job in the AFL, so to speak – a personal development coach. It's a bigger picture role. It looks at creating links, bonds and relationships back to the coaching group. It's giving assistance into the insight of the players."
Oswald said after meeting with Melbourne officials, it was an offer too good to refuse.
"I was really impressed by Jim Stynes, Cameron Schwab and Chris Connolly. They took me into the CEO's office and the boardroom at the MCG. I was a bit star-struck by that anyway, but they were open and honest with where it was at," he said.
"To get it back to where it's been – that's a massive challenge. But they had fantastic vision of where they want to go and anybody that didn't want to be part of that ride really isn't interested in footy – I mean it's the Melbourne footy club."
Meanwhile, Connolly said coach Dean Bailey is currently going through the process of finding a replacement for midfield coach Paul Williams.
for melbournefc.com.au
