Tara Murray
It will be a different looking coaching box for Werribee in this year’s Victorian Football League season.
Michael Barlow will coach the side for a third straight season, but he will be joined by some different faces.
The club has brought in new defensive and midfield coaches for the upcoming campaign with Nick Daffy the one assistant returning from last year.
Daffy will be Barlow’s right-hand man as the club’s senior assistant and will also make the move back to coaching forwards and ball movement.
Taking over as midfield coach is Chris O’Keefe.
A former VFL footballer, O’Keefe is no stranger to Melbourne’s west.
He led Spotswood to a premiership in 2011 in the Western Region Football League and also had a stint at Albion.
More recently, O’Keefe spent the last four years coaching Caulfield in the Southern Football League where he also notched his 350th game at senior level.
Simon Riddoch returns to the club for a second stint and will be the team defence and backline coach.
Riddoch, an eight-time premiership defender in the Geelong Football League with North Shore, previously coached Lara and Grovedale and was a development coach at Werribee under John Lamont.
Barlow and his assistants will be supported by four development coaches with Hamish MacInnes returning in the role of development manager.
Two of the new development coaches in Tim Kelly (midfield) and Mario Mathuranayagam (backline) come in with familiarity having held match day roles with the club in recent seasons.
Meanwhile, Matt Dowling has been brought in to work alongside Daffy and the forwards.
Heading up analysis yet again is Luke Rosenstengel with Wassim Rafihi, a development coach the past two years, and several interns assisting with analytics and statistics for individuals and the team.
Barlow said he was really comfortable with the coaching group they’ve assembled.
“We identified the need for a senior assistant and Daff is perfect for that role because of the connection he already has with the group and myself.
“Simon and Chris have a good mix of experience as players and in coaching, and both have quickly gotten up to speed with what we are doing and how we want to play.
“In terms of our development coaches we’re really happy to have these guys working closely with the senior coaches and assistants to develop our players.”
