Another Loss For Pies As Bombers Lure Development Coach

The Age

Thursday September 18, 2008

By Nick Sheridan

ESSENDON has continued its wide-ranging overhaul of its football department, appointing former Collingwood development coach Alan Richardson as an assistant to Matthew Knights.

Richardson will join the Bombers after three years at the Magpies, during which time he oversaw the creation of Collingwood's athlete development academy.

Richardson's new role will focus on skills acquisition and decision-making when in possession of the ball.

Richardson's is the third major appointment to the Bombers' football department this year.

In July, Essendon replaced long-serving high-performance manager John Quinn with former West Coast fitness coach Stuart Cormack and just this month installed former Adelaide assistant coach Paul Hamilton as the club's new football operations manager.

Essendon's chief operating officer, Travis Auld, said yesterday that Richardson's arrival further strengthened the club's new direction, which began with the appointment of Knights as senior coach last year.

"This is a further investment by the club in fast-tracking the developing of our list, on and off-field," Auld said.

"Alan's appointment, along with the recent appointments of Stuart Cormack and Paul Hamilton, allows us to approach 2009 with the confidence that we can really build on what we have achieved this year."

Richardson said he was looking forward to taking on a more comprehensive coaching role at his new club.

"The opportunity to have, potentially, such a significant influence - with the other coaches - on the program from a more holistic perspective is very attractive," Richardson said.

Collingwood has now lost two of its assistant coaches this year - senior assistant Guy McKenna was last month appointed to head development of the embryonic Gold Coast team - and former Brisbane Lions champion Brad Scott has also been linked to a job at his old club since his former teammate Michael Voss took over as head coach earlier this month.

But the Magpies' football operations manager, Geoff Walsh, said there was nothing unusual about the changes to the club's football department.

"At this time of year there's plenty of comings and goings both player-wise and staff-wise; it's not any different than most post-seasons," Walsh said.

"It's one of those things that happens in footy; people move on all the time. Richo's been fantastic in the development academy area ... but he's harboured ambitions for mainstream coaching for a while so that's good news for him."

Richardson played 114 games as a defender with Collingwood between 1987 and 1996.

Since then he has filled several coaching roles, including two years as senior coach of Coburg in the VFL and an assistant role at the Western Bulldogs in 2003.

Richardson's work on the Magpies' athlete development academy since 2005 has enabled young players such as Brad Dick, John Anthony and Nathan Brown to play senior football, as well as helping fast-track the AFL career of Irish recruit Marty Clarke.

© 2008 The Age

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