Darley locks in former Essendon assistant coach Dan Jordan for 2022

Ballarat league Hall of Famer Dan Jordan is back after being appointed Darley coach for 2022 and is looking forward to rebuilding the Devils.

New Darley coach Dan Jordan is looking forward to the challenge of turning the Ballarat league wooden spooner around.

The Devils didn’t win a game in 2021 and have locked in the former Essendon AFL assistant and VFL head coach to lead the club’s renaissance.

Jordan takes the reins from Dan Roy, who stood down in August.

It also marks the BFL Hall of Famer’s return to the league after departing East Point in 2013.

Jordan served as Essendon VFL coach in 2018-19, leading the club to back-to-back preliminary finals, before being promoted to assistant under Bombers’ AFL coach John Worsfold in 2020.

While he could have remained in the AFL, the challenge of returning to local coaching and rebuilding Darley was more appealing.

“I was figuring out whether to stay in AFL or not – I had a couple of clubs approach me – but I cut my teeth at local level and looked for a club I could make a real difference

“Travis Minns reached out to me, who I played a fair bit of footy against back in the day, and asked if I was interested and it grew from there.

“I was really impressed with Darley through the process and what they wanted from a coach and where they thought I could make a difference and I’m really excited about it.

“By their own admission they probably didn’t get their act together post the COVID year.

“They recognise they’ve got some work to do, which was one of the reasons they were keen to get me on board, and similarly I thought it was somewhere I could make a real difference.

“It’s a strong club, a proud club, and had some good success in the last few years and hopefully it won’t be long before we can challenge for finals again.”

Jordan has a rich history in the BFL, having been a champion player and coach at East Point.

The star forward booted 774 goals in 126 games for the Kangaroos, winning the Henderson Medal in 2006, five Lockett Medals, three club best-and-fairests, six Team of the Year honours and two Coach of the Year awards.

Dan Jordan during his time at East Point. Picture: Colleen Petch

He was inducted into the league Hall of Fame in 2018.

Jordan believes his knowledge of the competition will be an advantage and is looking forward to returning to Eastern Oval.

“I think so, I obviously played with East Point but I’ve always been impressed with the league, the standard of footy and the young guys coming through,” he said.

“I thought with my familiarity with the teams in the league and the style of footy that it could be an advantage.

“It will be bittersweet for me, East Point as a club were terrific for me and one I hold very dear.

“It’s obviously a fair while ago now, their coaching group is firmly entrenched with great success over the last few years, so I wish them all the best and look forward to the challenge of coaching against them.”

Officially locked in at Darley Park, Jordan will look lock in the Devils’ current talent before turning his attention to recruiting.

“Dougy Hawkins has done a terrific job with the under-19 program … I really want to continue the feeder program at the club and have that talent coming through and representing the club at senior level.

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“I think one of the things that attracted me was the turn around of the junior program over the last couple of years … I really want to foster that relationship.

“Recruiting is a bit of a challenge these days in terms of salary cap, there was none of that when I previously played at local level.

“I know the club is talking to a few players and there’ll be a few with my contacts that I think will be a good fit for the club.

“I’ve got to sit down with the club and work out what their philosophy is in terms of what they need and the calibre of players we’re going to try and target.”