The Bendigo and Essendon Football Club's and are delighted to announce the appointment of Hayden Skipworth as Bendigo senior coach in the Peter Jackson VFL for 2012.
Skipworth, who played 44 games for Adelaide and 11 games for Essendon, has held a development role at Essendon since his retirement in 2009.
The 28-year-old said he was looking forward to the opportunity of coaching his own side.
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to coach Essendon's VFL affiliate and to further develop my coaching career,” Skipworth said.
“Initially, it wasn’t something that I set out to achieve this season but the opportunity arose and I am thrilled to be able to lead Bendigo next year.”
Skipworth replaces Shannon Grant, who after two years as Bendigo coach has taken a position at the Western Bulldogs as an assistant coach.
Essendon general manager of football operations Paul Hamilton said Skipworth was a perfect fit for the role.
“Hayden understands the culture of both clubs and will benefit from his experience developing younger players over the past few years,” Hamilton said.
“As a best and fairest winner for Bendigo and a player for the Essendon Football Club, we are thrilled he has decided to take on the role.”
Bendigo Football Club chairman David Joss said the appointment was a great result for the club.
“We are very excited to have Hayden on board,” Joss said.
“He understands the relationship between Essendon and Bendigo very well and we don’t think we could have asked for a better choice.
“We think from a leadership perspective, Hayden will be fantastic and with his experience as a development coach at Essendon we believe he’ll have no problems adapting to the challenges of coaching his own side.”
Last Modified on 26/10/2011 17:04