Former Werribee Tigers captain Dominic Gleeson has joined Geelong’s VFL squad as a playing assistant coach.
The 28 year old will line up in the VFL and will also join Matthew Knights and Max Rooke as additions to the club’s VFL/Academy coaching panel.
“I am looking forward to working with and playing alongside the talented group of young players at the Cats,” Gleeson said.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Werribee and I thank them for the opportunities they have provided me over the past 10 years, however, I am now very focused on the next phase of my football career and developing my skills set as a coach. I look forward to working with and learning from the very experienced coaching group at Geelong.”
Geelong general manager of football Neil Balme welcomed Gleeson to the club.
“Dominic will add experience to our VFL team, which has many young players making their way toward being AFL players,” Balme said.
“We also believe that he has the attributes and character to add to our young player’s experience in a coaching role, and this is the first step for Dominic as he transitions from playing to hopefully a career in coaching. He has always been a good leader and we’re excited to add such a respected player and person to our club.”
The former Geelong Falcon played a club record 140 VFL games and won a pair of best and fairest awards with Werribee. He is the second recent Werribee skipper to join the Cats, following the lead of his former team mate James Podsiadly.
Gleeson finished in the top 10 of the Liston Trophy and was named in the VFL team of the year in 2010.
A product of Koroit, Gleeson won the Geelong Falcons best & fairest in 2001 in a team containing the likes of Luke Hodge, James Bartel, Gary Ablett, Matthew Maguire and Nick Maxwell. He was a member of the Falcons 2000 premiership winning team.
The majority of the club’s academy group will attend a training camp at Falls Creek over the next two weeks, while the VFL pre-season training squad will commence training on the 23rd of November.
