MELBOURNE has appointed former Bulldogs opposition analyst Craig Jennings to the newly-created position of game analyst and education coordinator.

Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said Jennings’ appointment was “another step towards building the best learning environment we can for our players”.

“Craig’s appointment is very important to delivering the football educational component of our program. He has experience working at Swinburne University and presented internationally on education and learning,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“He also has extensive experience at AFL level in game analysis, working at Essendon for 10 years and more recently, he spent 2015 with the Western Bulldogs. We believe that Craig’s experiences in both AFL and education made him perfectly qualified for this newly created role.

“Throughout the year we started to introduce a number of changes to the way the coaches delivered information to the players, which had positive feedback from the players and tangible outcomes on game day.

“We will be making some further changes next season to continue creating the best learning environment for our players and ensuring their development.”

Mahoney said Jennings had previously worked with Simon Goodwin and Brendan McCartney.

“Craig has worked with a number of senior coaches throughout his time and built a strong relationship with Simon Goodwin and Brendan McCartney whilst at Essendon, we look forward to him making a large contribution to the Melbourne Football Club,” he said.

Before his time at Essendon and the Bulldogs, Jennings spent nine years with Swinburne University.

He also has a master of management in sports management, a post graduate certificate in teaching and learning (higher education) and an AFL executive certificate in football operations and list management.