Dual premiership player joins Melbourne coaching ranks

Two-time Geelong premiership player Max Rookie has joined Melbourne as a development coach.

Rooke, who played 135 matches for the Cats, including the 2007 and 2009 premierships, worked as a development coach at the Gold Coast Suns in 2016, following three years on Geelong's coaching panel from 2012 to 2015.

“Since retiring from the AFL, Max has been working as a development coach, firstly for Geelong for a few years and then Gold Coast last year,” General manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said.

“Through family reasons, Max became available and we’re delighted that he’s decided to join Melbourne.

“Max is passionate about developing young players and driving standards on and off the field, which aligns very well with our overall philosophy on players.

“This completes our full-time coaching appointments for 2017 and we’re very happy with the group of coaches we’ve been able to put together.

“This group has a good balance of experience and recently retired players and we look forward to them working with our players moving forward.”

Rooke is the fourth member of Geelong's premiership era to sign on as part of the Demons' coaching panel in 2017, with Brendan McCartney, Matthew Egan and Shannon Byrnes all part of Melbourne's football department.