Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce Cam Micallef, Nick Daffy and Ben Patrick will join the VFL Football Department for season 2018.

Micallef joins the Bombers as Strength and Conditioning Coach, while Daffy and Patrick have been appointed Assistant Coaches.

For the last three seasons, Micallef has managed the Williamstown Football Club High Performance Program. He is currently the Physical Prep and Injury Management Advisor with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), where he manages operational Fire Fighters to help them achieve optimal physical preparation and reconditioning following an injury.

VFL Head Coach, Dan Jordan, said Micallef’s accomplishments in football, make him a handy inclusion to Essendon’s VFL side. 

“Cam had some really good success at Williamstown, two preliminary finals and a premiership in 2015,” Jordan said.

“We are really excited to have Cam in and his input. He will bring a wealth of knowledge to our Strength and Conditioning program.

“His ideas are quite unique but his results at Williamstown speak for themselves, to get a group that are not aligned with an AFL Club, up to the level that they were playing at.”

Micallef has a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology, a Bachelor of Exercise Science and a diverse working and coaching history which has helped shape his coaching philosophies.

Daffy is a level three accredited coach who has spent time as head coach of St Albans Football Club (Geelong), Director of Coaching at Torquay Football Club, Assistant Coach at the Northern Blues and was North Ballarat’s midfield/stoppage coach in 2017. He was also the VFL State Team Midfield Coach.

“Nick had a decorated career at AFL level with Richmond and since then has dabbled his hand in local level coaching and coaching at VFL level,” Jordan said.

“We are very pleased to have Nick at the Club. He will look after the forward line, and Wayne Schultz re-joins us from last year, he will be in charge of the back line.

“We think we have a really good mix of older heads and also some developing coaches, and we are really excited to have everyone on board and see what each other can bring to the table.”

Daffy played 166 AFL Games with 165 of those with the Richmond Football Club.  Nick was the Tigers Best and Fairest in 1998, Leading Goal kicker in 1995 and represented Victoria in State of Origin three times.

Patrick is a level three accredited coach with a vast amount of coaching experience at Barwon Heads FC, VFL State Team Assistant Coach, AFL Vic Young Guns coach and for the last 4 years as Senior Assistant at the Werribee Football Club (VFL) where he has worked closely with the North Melbourne Football Club and their Development Team.

“Ben has a wealth of experience, having come through local level ranks through to VFL,” Jordan said.

“He will bring a wealth of knowledge from his alignment at Werribee with North Melbourne, where he was involved with their development program, and was pretty hands on with their young guys coming through.

“We are really excited to have Ben on board, he will look after our midfield group.”

Patrick had a successful playing career with the Lara Football Club and Barwon Heads Football Club. He also represented the Geelong Football League on multiple occasions in interleague games.

Essendon’s VFL first and second year players will return on November 27^th, with the remainder of the squad returning on December Fourth.

2018 VFL Coaching Staff

Dan Jordan – Head Coach

Ben Patrick – Assistant Coach

Nick Daffy – Assistant Coach

Wayne Schultz – Assistant Coach

Cam Micallef – Strength and Conditioning Coach