Like the playing list at Werribee in 2022 the club’s coaching make-up sees the return of many of the key faces that have been a part of the program in recent seasons.

With Michael Barlow entering year two as senior coach he returns two of his three assistants from a year ago in Nick Daffy and Tom Perrett.

The team’s third assistant James Saker joins VFL coaching ranks for the first time but is familiar with Werribee having played four seasons with the club, two of those alongside Barlow.

Saker comes in as club’s backline and team defence coach which means both Perrett and Daffy will head up new areas of the field this season.

Perrett’s focus shifts from the back half of the ground to the front half taking charge of a young forward group as well as overseeing ball movement.

Daffy turns his attention to the midfield and stoppages working closely with the senior coach.

The four will again be surrounded by three development coaches headed by Hamish MacInnes with Luke Gallaher and Wassim Rafihi resuming their roles from last year.

Additionally, Gallaher and Rafihi will assist Perrett and Saker with their respective positions.

“I’ve said a number of times we are an aspirational group and what really does help with that is consistency around the coaching department,” Barlow said.

“I think everyone brings something different and from my point of view we coach, we teach and we challenge.

“One of my big take-aways or understandings from my first year in the job was to just allow those coaches to take the reins and flourish by utilising their respective skillsets.”

Even with the changes amongst assistant coaches Barlow said everyone is incredibly well suited to their designated position in 2022.

“Sakes just loves defending, we often joke that he wasn’t great with ball in hand but was one of the great players to play with at because of his effort and commitment to defending,” he said.

“His knowledge around, in particular team defence has already advanced us.

“Tom is just so reliable in terms of what he produces and is so consistent in his day-to-day involvement.

“He’s a school teacher by trade which really translates well to him working with a forward line group that is definitely our youngest area on the ground.

“Daff has no problems adjusting his role from forward line coach to the midfield.

“He’s built a really good rapport with our senior players with many of those guys part of the midfield and is tremendous at critically challenging them and finding different avenues for learning for them.

“Our development coaches have a big role to play too, running our development program for our under 22 players of which there are 16 players on the list and a similar number of train-ons.

Also working with the development group will be experienced pair Michael Sodomaco, Tom Gribble and recruit Ollie Hanrahan.

Outgoing captain Sodomaco will share his knowledge mentoring a group of small defenders, with Gribble taking on a similar role with the team’s young midfielders while former Hawthorn player Hanrahan will work wholistically with the under 22 group.

Analysis will be headed up by Luke Rosenstengel and a team of interns who will oversee the collation of keys stats. Meanwhile, David Supek takes on the responsibility of opposition scouting.