After Carlton’s new senior coach was unveiled on Tuesday, Head of Football Andrew McKay revealed it was Brendon Bolton’s “ability to teach and develop players” that made him stand out ahead of the other candidates.

The former Hawthorn assistant coach has a background in teaching and education, developing sides in his home state of Tasmania and the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL.

“All the reference check-ups we did all said the same thing. His ability to teach young men to think about the game in different ways was really what put him ahead of the rest,” McKay told Crocmedia on Tuesday evening.

As opposed to signing a traditional contract, Bolton has signed on as a member staff, with McKay saying it’s a “win for both parties”.

“You don’t get the speculation of ‘are we renewing his contract, are we not?’… We want him to be here for a long, long time and certainly he wants the same thing,” he said.

McKay says Bolton won’t be thrown straight into the “hustle and bustle” of senior coaching, but rather over the next two weeks will sit down with Carlton’s football department to have more in depth conversations about the club’s future.

“He’ll be at Hawthorn doing that transition process until the end of the week and obviously John is going to keep coaching until the end of the year.

“Brendon will keep his distance next week, which will give him a chance to have a look at our game this weekend and the following weekend from afar. It will be good for him I think,” McKay said.

Carlton’s caretaker coach John Barker, who only narrowly missed out on the top job, was heavily praised by McKay for the exceptional work he’s done over the past three months.

“He’s done a terrific job over a very difficult time – taking over the role when the football team wasn’t doing very well at all.”