Essendon is in talks with former Bomber Mark Johnson about joining the club in a new tackling coach role for next season. <\/p>\n
The Herald Sun can reveal Johnson, who has a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, is being targeted to help sharpen the Bombers\u2019 tackling technique and efficiency for next year.<\/p>\n
The Bombers have been a poor defensive side for a decade, but new senior coach Mark McVeigh is set to make it a priority. <\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s return would bring back another former Essendon great to The Hangar in a part-time role, with the highly-respected and popular backman lauded for his work rate, defensive efforts, toughness and team ethos during his career.<\/p>\n
The 2002 best-and-fairest winner played 208 AFL matches including the 2000 premiership. He crossed to Fremantle for his final season in 2008, playing 14 matches in purple.<\/p>\n
Since retiring in 2008, Johnson, 46, has become a martial arts expert and teacher.<\/p>\n
He would step in to help new coach McVeigh and drive new tackling standards after the team ranked third-last for tackles with an average of 53.7 a game last season.<\/p>\n
It is a new role at Essendon which indicates McVeigh\u2019s desire to improve this area for a team which won only two games and finished bottom of the ladder in 2026.<\/p>\n
The Bombers are on the hunt for a new coaching panel and a bolstered football department including a new football manager.<\/p>\n
The Herald Sun revealed last month that the Bombers were targeting Sydney Swans\u2019 assistant coach Amon Buchanan, who is helping lead the Swans\u2019 finals tilt.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether club legend James Hird will be part of the new football department after missing out on the senior coaching job to close mate McVeigh.<\/p>\n
Former CEO Craig Vozzo has been in talks with the club about taking over as football manager following a study of operation departments across world sport.<\/p>\n
Essendon superstar midfielder Zach Merrett is expected to pursue a move to Hawthorn after final talks with McVeigh this week. <\/p>\n
Essendon is targeting young Hawthorn tall Noah Mraz in return as part of a deal including an early draft pick.<\/p>\n
Hawthorn does not want to lose the versatile big man who has excited the Hawks with his development. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon is in talks with former Bomber Mark Johnson about joining the club in a new tackling coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[464335,393685,455678,381463,464360,464361,54956,464373,464366,464350,398740,378346,464349,379201,464327,378662,464341,464342,456961,464375,464332,464334,420596,389632,387445,389464,464365,464356,464348,64,63,21452,51668,88747,464364,1650,25297,60055,464371,3028,464355,464339,13484,464352,10992,6854,464346,464363,450507,464372,464330,19074,67651,464337,464338,464374,464354,464370,464353,464340,33725,464347,464358,464328,6622,464367,464331,9664,85,7200,154966,464362,464345,22132,464368,464343,387914,382205,464336,34326,386615,464333,188308,378764,464351,464369,128820,315971,464357,452173,199184,464329,464359,464344],"class_list":["post-895248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-s-desire","tag-s-return","tag-14-matches","tag-381463","tag-2026-the","tag-208-afl","tag-54956","tag-53-7","tag-a-black-belt","tag-a-bolstered-football-department","tag-a-deal","tag-a-decade","tag-a-former-bombers-premiership-hero","tag-a-game","tag-a-martial-arts-expert","tag-a-move","tag-a-new-coaching-panel","tag-a-new-football-manager-the-herald-sun","tag-a-new-role","tag-a-new-tackling-coach-role","tag-a-part-time-role","tag-a-poor-defensive-side","tag-a-priority","tag-a-study","tag-a-team","tag-an-average","tag-an-early-draft-pick-hawthorn","tag-another-former-essendon","tag-assistant-coach-amon-buchanan","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bombers","tag-bottom","tag-brazilian-jiu-jitsu","tag-club-legend-james-hird","tag-coaches","tag-coaching-role","tag-defensive-efforts","tag-dons-premiership-hero","tag-essendon","tag-final-talks","tag-finals-tilt-it","tag-football-manager","tag-former-bomber-mark-johnson","tag-fremantle","tag-hawthorn","tag-his-career-the-2002-best-and-fairest-winner","tag-his-development","tag-his-final-season","tag-his-panel","tag-his-work-rate","tag-johnson","tag-last-month","tag-last-season-it","tag-mate-mcveigh-former-ceo-craig-vozzo","tag-mcveigh","tag-new-coach-mcveigh","tag-new-essendon-coach-mark-mcveigh","tag-new-senior-coach-mark-mcveigh","tag-new-tackling-standards","tag-next-season","tag-next-year-the","tag-only-two-games","tag-operation-departments","tag-part","tag-premiership-hero-mark-johnson","tag-purple-since","tag-return","tag-sports","tag-sydney-swans","tag-tackles","tag-tackling-coach","tag-tackling-technique-and-efficiency","tag-talks","tag-teacher-he","tag-the-2000-premiership","tag-the-bombers","tag-the-club","tag-the-hangar","tag-the-hawks","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-highly-respected-and-popular-backman","tag-the-hunt","tag-the-ladder","tag-the-new-football-department","tag-the-senior-coaching-job","tag-the-swans","tag-the-team","tag-the-versatile-big-man","tag-this-area","tag-this-week","tag-toughness-and-team-ethos","tag-world-sport-essendon-superstar-midfielder-zach-merrett","tag-young-hawthorn-tall-noah-mraz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}