Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce Brendan Major has been appointed the Club’s inaugural VFLW Coach for the 2018 season.
Major has an impressive resume with extensive coaching experience in women’s football and elite sport. He was Assistant Coach for Collingwood’s AFLW side in 2017, Head Coach of the Eastern Devils VFLW side from 2014 to 2017, and Strength and Conditioning Coach with the VFLW Academy from 2015 to 2016.
Major said his passion for women’s football closely aligned with the Club’s vision.
“I have been an Essendon supporter since I was very young, so that was one of the first things that attracted me to the position,” Major said.
“I went and interviewed at Essendon and found out they were really organised and had a clear vision of what they wanted to get out of their women’s team and where they wanted women’s football to go within that area.
“That really aligned with what I wanted to get out of it so it seems like a great fit.
“Next year the VFLW is going to be a new look competition, with so many teams and a lot of the AFL Clubs getting their first foray into women’s football. It’s going to be really exciting.
“The goal now is to establish a team and a pathway for the really strong Calder Cannons group that are coming through, and create a pathway into the AFL.”
Major has a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Human Movement (Victoria University), a Master’s of Science in Kinesiology (Western Ontario, Canada) and is currently completing his PhD exploring concussion in female athletes at Deakin University.
VFL Operations Manager, Ash Brown, said Brendan’s attitude and experience made him the perfect fit to join Essendon.
“We are very excited to have someone with Brendan’s coaching experience and knowledge of women’s football lead our first ever women’s program at the Essendon Football Club,” Brown said.
“Brendan is a very passionate, positive and development focused coach with experiences in VFLW, AFLW and AFL Victoria Talent Academies.
“Brendan’s first responsibility will be consolidating and finalising our preseason training squad which will start in December.
“We welcome Brendan to the Essendon Football Club and look forward to watching our inaugural Women’s team journey towards round one in 2018.”
The VFLW competition will commence in May.
