CRAIG Jennings has heaped praise on colleague Brendan McCartney, saying the long-time coaching mentor is the best assistant coach he has worked with.

Jennings, who is Melbourne’s game analysis and education coordinator, was unequivocal when he spoke about McCartney, who coached the Western Bulldogs for three years and was a key coaching member in Geelong’s premiership era.

“I worked with Brendan at the Essendon footy club and he laid a really good foundation there. Macca is elite and everybody knows he’s elite at the stuff around the contest and the way he teaches it, and the way he works with the players and how encouraging he is. That’s what I’ve seen – and he’s first class at it, at this footy club,” he told Melbourne TV.

“I didn’t work with him at the Bulldogs, but they’re the No.1 contested team and that’s a credit to [him and] all the line coaches at the Bulldogs as well – we can’t forget that. They all do a terrific job and there are a lot of premiership players at that footy club in Bretty Montgomery, Joel Corey and Steven King, who all played in premierships.

“[Daniel] Giansiracusa and Rohan Smith are great coaches, and played really long careers, so as a coaching group they really know what they’re doing and they’re very lateral and creative, and really good tactically. We’ve definitely got our work cut out this week.

“Back to Brendan, I’ve probably worked with 40 assistant coaches and he’s definitely the best assistant coach I’ve worked with. It’s a bit of a privilege being back here working with him – that’s for sure.”