Werribee will boast a different looking coaches box in 2023 with several new faces joining the program for Michael Barlow’s third season at the helm.

The club has brought in new defensive and midfield coaches for the upcoming campaign with Nick Daffy the one assistant returning from last year.

Daffy will be Barlow’s right-hand man as the club’s senior assistant and will also make the move back to coaching forwards and ball movement.   

Taking over as midfield coach is Chris O’Keefe, a former VFL footballer with North Ballarat who arrives with a decade of experience predominately as a playing coach.

O’Keeffe spent the last four years coaching Caulfield Bears in the Southern Football League where he also notched his 350^th game at senior level.

Prior to that he led Spotswood to Western Region Football League premiership in 2011 before a stint in charge of Albion.

As team defence and backline coach the club welcomes back Simon Riddoch who was a development coach under John Lamont in 2015-16.

Riddoch, an eight-time premiership defender in the Geelong Football League with North Shore, previously coached Lara and Grovedale.

Barlow and his assistants will be supported by four development coaches with Hamish MacInnes returning in the role of development manager.

Two of the new development coaches in Tim Kelly (midfield) and Mario Mathuranayagam (backline) come in with familiarity having held match day roles with the club in recent seasons.

Meanwhile, Matt Dowling - a standout youth coach in the Geelong area - has been brought in to work alongside Daffy and the forwards.  

Heading up analysis yet again is Luke Rosenstengel with Wassim Rafihi, a development coach the past two years, and several interns assisting with analytics and statistics for individuals and the team.

“I’m really comfortable with the coaching group we’ve assembled,” Barlow said.

“We identified the need for a senior assistant and Daff is perfect for that role because of the connection he already has with the group and myself.

“Simon and Chris have a good mix of experience as players and in coaching, and both have quickly gotten up to speed with what we are doing and how we want to play.

“In terms of our development coaches we’re really happy to have these guys working closely with the senior coaches and assistants to develop our players.”

Picture (left to right): Michael Barlow, Nick Daffy, Chris O'Keefe, Simon Riddoch.