Box Hill Hawks coach Zane Littlejohn has joined North Melbourne's football department as an assistant strategy coach.
Littlejohn spent the past three years looking after the Hawks' reserves side, as well as their development program.
He took the club to a preliminary final in 2023 and 2025, and also made the finals in 2024. Littlejohn was also appointed the coach of the VFL State Team for the past two years.
Prior to his time at the Hawks, Littlejohn spent six years at Brisbane in development, and was the head of the club's academy program.
After reviewing the structures of our football department, we identified a need for an additional role within the program," North Melbourne's GM of football Todd Viney said.
"Zane will take a more holistic view of the program with a focus on our gameday strategy and competition trends.
"We're thrilled to have Zane join us in this newly created role. His coaching experience across multiple clubs has seen him spend many years within the academy and development teams, while more recently coaching his own side at Box Hill.
"We feel his experience across a range of coaching roles will help take our program to the next level, and we look forward to having him join us in November."
In more changes to the Kangaroos' football department, former Docker Michael Barlow has been elevated from the head of development to an assistant coaching role.
Barlow will work with the midfielders, replacing Leigh Adams.
The vacancy left by Barlow will be filled by Tom Lynch, who was coaching North Melbourne's VFL side for the past three seasons.
Former development coach Adam Marcon is transitioning to the role of senior coach in the VFL. At the same time, Najee Imam will join the club's recruiting team as a talent and opposition scout after spending the past 10 seasons in various positions within the football program.
North Melbourne also announced Dr Tarah Kavanagh as the new Head of Psychology, and she will begin her role in October.
She was previously at Arden Street from 2010 to 2015, but spent periods at Hawthorn and Cricket Victoria throughout her career.
The club is also continuing its search to fill the two vacant development coach positions.
