McKenna joins ‘Dons as AFL assistant coach

West Coast AFL premiership stars John Worsfold and Guy McKenna will reunite in Essendon’s new-look coaching staff.

The Bombers confirmed on Monday that McKenna would join the club to work under Worsfold as an assistant coach.

They were key members of the Eagles’ first two premierships in 1992 and `94, with McKenna also succeeding Worsfold as captain in 1999-2000.

Essendon appointed Worsfold as their new senior coach after parting ways with James Hird.

McKenna was Gold Coast’s first coach, but was sacked late last year after four seasons in charge of the Suns.

McKenna, Hayden Skipworth and Mark Harvey will be the three line coaches, while Mark Neeld will take the new position of game performance manager under Worsfold.

“Guy emerged as the standout candidate during the thorough selection process,” said Essendon football manager Rob Kerr.

“Guy’s appointment further strengthens our experienced senior coaching panel.

“We’ve said from the outset, as a club we want to build towards a period of sustained success and Guy is going to play an important role in achieving that.”

McKenna was an assistant at West Coast and Collingwood before taking over the senior role at the Suns.

“To work alongside John is exciting – we achieved success as players and hopefully we can achieve success as a coaching team,” McKenna said.

Also on Monday, Adelaide announced James Podsiadly would stay at the club as an assistant coach.

Podsiadly, who retired from playing at the end of the season, will coach their defenders.

He started his career at the age of 28 at Geelong and played in their 2011 premiership team.

Podsiadly had two years at Adelaide, but did not play any senior games this season and retired on 104 matches.

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