{"id":895720,"date":"2026-09-17T20:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895720\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T20:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:36:14","slug":"new-essendon-coach-targets-bombers-premiership-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895720\/","title":{"rendered":"New Essendon coach targets Bombers premiership hero"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Newly crowned Essendon coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/coaches\/mark-mcveigh\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark McVeigh<\/a> has got on the front foot and put forward a move that will likely be lapped up by the Bombers hierarchy and faithful.<\/p>\n<p>McVeigh has asked former teammate and Essendon premiership hero Mark Johnson to join the Bombers&#8217; coaching staff for 2027.<\/p>\n<p>It would be in a part-time role as tackling coach.<\/p>\n<p>Essendon has been known for its poor defensive output over the past few seasons, with McVeigh eager to change that with the addition of Johnson, as per a report by Code Sports.<\/p>\n<p>During Johnson&#8217;s nine seasons and 194 games at Essendon, he was regarded as a tough, professional and uncompromising midfielder.<\/p>\n<p>Since his retirement at the end of the 2008 season, Johnson has earned a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and has become a teacher.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-181781 size-full\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 25: Mark McVeigh the new coach of the Bombers poses during an Essendon Bombers AFL press conference at The Hangar on August 25, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1786\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2291909637-scaled.jpg.webp\"\/>MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA &#8211; AUGUST 25: Mark McVeigh the new coach of the Bombers poses during an Essendon Bombers AFL press conference at The Hangar on August 25, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Essendon is a club that loves its own. Highlighted by the push for former beloved Bombers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/coaches\/james-hird\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Hird<\/a> and to a lesser extent McVeigh to become coach after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/coaches\/brad-scott\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Scott<\/a> was sacked mid-year.<\/p>\n<p>It would be McVeigh&#8217;s first appointment to his coaching staff as he looks to bring arguably the league&#8217;s biggest sleeping giant back to its feet and fighting for finals.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson played 208 games during his career; 194 at Essendon and a further 14 at Fremantle for one season in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n            &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/author\/marcus-beeck\/\" aria-label=\"author-photo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" class=\"gravatar avatar avatar-96 um-avatar um-avatar-uploaded\" width=\"96\" height=\"96\" alt=\"Marcus Beeck\" data-default=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/ultimate-member\/assets\/img\/default_avatar.jpg\" onerror=\"if ( ! this.getAttribute('data-load-error') ){ this.setAttribute('data-load-error', '1');this.setAttribute('src', this.getAttribute('data-default'));}\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789677374_837_profile_photo-190x190.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Originally from Western Australia, Marcus moved to Melbourne to pursue a career in sports media. A passionate storyteller who loves talking to the people that bring colour to sport, in particular Aussie rules or cricket. If you have a story that you think is worth telling, please reach out! Email: Marcus.beeck@zerodigital.com.au<\/p>\n<p>\t                &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Newly crowned Essendon coach Mark McVeigh has got on the front foot and put forward a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-895720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895720","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=895720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}