THE CARLTON Football Club is delighted to have finalised its coaching group for the 2023 AFL season, with the appointment of Tom Lonergan as Development and Talent Manager.
Lonergan arrives at IKON Park in a new role within the coaching group, focusing on the key areas of player development and talent analysis.
Working closely with Head of Development Luke Power, the 38-year-old will play a pivotal role in driving the Blues’ skill-development program.
Lonergan will also provide consistent assessment and reporting of player development and progress, through close collaboration with Head of List Management Nick Austin and Recruiting Manager Michael Agresta.
The former Geelong Premiership player joins fellow recent coaching addition Brad Ebert (development coach) in bringing with him 200-plus games of AFL experience.
Since retiring after a 15-year playing career with the Cats, Lonergan has worked closely within the NAB League pathway, initially spending two seasons with the Calder Cannons as Talent Manager before stepping into the role of Talent Operations Lead at the Geelong Falcons, a position he has held since the end of 2020.
Head of Football Brad Lloyd said Lonergan’s role would strengthen connection and synergy across the AFL program, as well as continue to bolster development.
“We’ve done a lot of work over the off-season to analyse how we can take our football department to another level and this role was one we identified as a way to do that,” Lloyd said.
“Tom fits the skillset perfectly, with his attention to detail, passion for developing talent and significant experience, both as a player in the modern game and through the development pathways.
“He was known as a selfless player and is certainly a resilient and hard-working person, a great example for our emerging players to work alongside every day as they shape their own careers and look to get the very best out of themselves.
“With Tom’s appointment, we now have an additional coach on last season, which will really boost our development program under Luke Power and increase the efficiencies of the coaching group overall.
“Tom’s role in working with our List Management team will also be crucial, ensuring we are tracking each player’s development and adding another dimension to identifying our potential list needs year-on-year.”
Lonergan said he was excited to join the strong development program that has been established at IKON Park.
“I was fortunate as a player to be afforded every avenue to succeed and seeing the elite environment that is being established here, really makes me excited to provide that same opportunity to the players coming through at Carlton,” Lonergan said.
“During the last four years with Calder Cannons and Geelong Falcons I’ve grown a real desire to help players maximise their potential in the AFL system and will utilise my experience in the game, both on and off the field, to help our players do just that.
“I admire the development program Luke Power and the other coaches have built here over the last few years and look forward to doing everything I can to grow that and contribute overall to making this football club consistently elite.”
Carlton 2023 coaching group:
AFL Senior Coach: Michael Voss
Senior Assistant coach – Forward line and offensive coach: Ash Hansen
Backline and Team Defence coach: Aaron Hamill
Midfield coach: Tim Clarke
Coaching and Performance Manager: Aaron Greaves
Ruck coach: Matthew Kreuzer
Head of Development: Luke Power
Development and Talent Manager: Tom Lonergan
Development coach: Brad Ebert
Development coach: Torin Baker
