THE CARLTON Football Club is delighted to have finalised its assistant coaching panel, with the highly accomplished Ashley Hansen joining the Navy Blue as Senior Assistant – forward line and offensive coach.

Hansen arrives at IKON Park following a successful nine years as part of the Western Bulldogs coaching staff.

Hansen will be in charge of the forwards, a role he excelled in at the Whitten Oval over the last four seasons as the Bulldogs ranked in the top three for points scored in two of the last three years.

Following a 78-game AFL career with West Coast (2002-2010) that included a Premiership in 2006, Hansen began his coaching career as a Development coach at the Bulldogs in 2013.

He then became VFL coach, leading Footscray to Premiership success in 2016 which resulted in his eventual promotion to the senior coaching staff.

With a Masters in strength and conditioning, Hansen is also completing his level 4 coaching course to go along with his extensive coaching credentials, which has seen him steadily rise through the ranks to earn a widely respected reputation across the AFL industry.

The 38-year-old said the reason for his decision to join the Blues was based on the exciting direction that the Club had now embarked on – based off a clear vision for success.

“The thing I love about coaching is creating an environment for players that brings out their best on and off the field,” Hansen said.

“I’ve been very fortunate to witness such environments throughout my career as a player and coach, and I’m really excited about creating that again at Carlton.”

“Before making the decision to come across I had really good discussions with Brad Lloyd and Michael Voss, they were really clear in what they wanted to build here. I feel I can really use my experience to help achieve that and help our players reach the level they are no doubt striving for.”

Head of Football Brad Lloyd said the Club knows it is adding a quality coach in Hansen that perfectly rounds out the coaching group.

“Over the last nine years Ashley has consistently demonstrated an ability to get the best out of people, build a successful environment and given the stage he is at in his coaching career, he is the ideal person we were looking appoint to our Senior Assistant,” Lloyd said.

“He has coached his own side to a Premiership in the VFL and has delivered impressive results as a line coach – to be able to attract someone of his quality, skillset and experience to our football club is another significant step forward.

“With the additions of Ashley, Aaron Hamill and Tim Clarke, we have built a quality team of assistants to support Michael, who compliment his commitment to high performance and building an elite environment.

“We will continue making necessary adjustments to our football department throughout the off-season to ensure we continue to move forward in what has been a really exciting reset phase for the Club as we set our sights on 2022.”