The rebuild of Carlton has taken another major step, with Essendon football boss Neil Craig quitting the Bombers to oversee Brendon Bolton's revamped coaching team at Princes Park.

In what has emerged as a virtual clean-out of assistant coaching positions, only John Barker and Matthew Capuano have survived the Blues' coaching facelift, with Barker returning from leave to accept a role as Bolton's stoppage coach.



The new Carlton assistants are Tim Clarke (midfield), Dale Amos (backline) and Shane Watson, who will oversee the Carlton forwards.

Joining Carlton: Former Bombers coach Neil Craig. Credit:Justin McManus

They make up the youngest team of assistant coaches in the AFL and will work under the guidance of former Adelaide coach Craig, who has been appointed the club's director of coaching development and performance.

Carlton assistants Brad Green, Luke Webster and Michael Osborne applied for assistant roles under the new senior coach but were ultimately overlooked and will now depart the Blues.



This appointment is Craig's third at a Victorian-based AFL club since he departed the Crows. He came to Victoria to work with Mark Neeld during the latter's short-lived tenure at Melbourne. This latest move reunites Craig in a professional sense with his former Adelaide boss, Steven Trigg.