EXCLUSIVE



The Western Bulldogs are set to appoint experienced Essendon assistant coach Brendan McCartney as the club's new senior coach.



In a surprise move, McCartney is understood to have narrowly pipped Hawthorn senior assistant and ex-Bulldogs player and assistant coach Leon Cameron for the position.



McCartney will join the small band of senior coaches to have never played a game at AFL level.

McCartney won the position by impressing the Bulldogs in his presentation and it appears as though the Bulldogs finally wanted an outsider with more experience in other clubs than the highly-regarded Cameron, who was the initial favourite simply because of his strong reputation as assistant coach under Rodney Eade and his work at Hawthorn this year.



Remarkably, McCartney's pathway to the Bulldogs' job is similar to Melbourne's new coach Mark Neeld – both low-profile coaches who have won senior positions through long and distinguished apprenticeships.



Like Neeld, McCartney successfully coached in the Bellarine Peninsula League before he was hired by former Richmond coach Jeff Gieschen as an assistant at Punt Road.

Gone to the dogs ... Brendan McCartney. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo

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McCartney coached Ocean Grove to four successive premiership in the 1990s, a feat repeated by Neeld between 2000 and 2003.



But it was at Geelong where McCartney cemented his reputation as an excellent coach, leading him to be poached by the Bombers with Mark Thompson at the end of last year.



James Hird earlier this year expressed the view that McCartney was one of the best coaches he had seen and he was surprised that the assistant had yet been appointed to a senior job.



Another assistant with Geelong pedigree, Brendon Sanderson was one of the other lead candidates for the Bulldogs and like Cameron is certain to be looked at by St Kilda as the Saints’ senior replacement for Ross Lyon.

Former Geelong premiership captain Tom Harley, who worked closely with McCartney at Skilled Stadium, was a member of the panel that picked McCartney.



McCartney's close involvement in Geelong's 2007 and 2009 premiership teams is also understood to have played a key role in the Bulldogs settling on the experienced assistant coach.



An official announcement is likely today.



