AIS coach Jason McCartney heads west
The AFL has announced that AFL AIS High Performance coach Jason McCartney has resigned to accept a role as Development Coach with Fremantle Football Club.
Jason has been an integral part of the AFL Game Development team and broader AFL organisation for over six years, spending the last 18 months as AFL AIS High Performance Manager.
McCartney, who played a total of 182 games across a 13-season career with Collingwood, Adelaide and North Melbourne, had also served as the AFL’s Youth and High Performance Co-Ordinator and conducted AFL Youth Leadership Seminars that reached more than 70,000 students across Australia.
AFL General Manager of International and National Development David Matthews said McCartney had built an outstanding reputation in the area of developing young people and helping them to make the most of their opportunities in football and in life. Matthews said McCartney’s impact on young people going through the AFL AIS Academy had been enormous.
“Jason’s work in the talent pathway with Kevin Sheehan and until recently Alan McConnell has involved mentoring some of the future stars of the game including players such as Daniel Rich, Nic Natanui, and Tom Scully. He has always gone above and beyond and also played a role in the testing and recruitment of both Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau,” Mr Matthews said.
“His role as leader and mentor of young talent created the template upon which we have since engaged former players including Michael Voss, Nathan Buckley, Luke Darcy, Tom Harley, Matthew Lloyd and Michael O’Loughlin.”
Mr Matthews wished Jason and his family well and said a replacement was expected to be announced in the coming months.
