Fremantle senior development coach and assistant coach Simon Lloyd is one of nine assistant coaches accepted into the AFL’s new Level Four Senior Coach Program.

AFL general manager football operations Mark Evans said the Level Four Program seeks to prepare highly-rated assistant coaches for the rigours of a potential head coach position at an AFL club with concentrated mentoring and development work, beyond the existing Level Three Program.

Evans said John Barker (Carlton), Brendon Bolton (Hawthorn), Blake Caracella (Geelong Cats), Stuart Dew (Sydney Swans), Simon Goodwin (Melbourne), Robert Harvey (Collingwood), Adam Kingsley (St Kilda), Lloyd and Matthew Nicks (Port Adelaide) were the lead contenders in a high-quality field of applicants who sought be part of the program.

The selection process involved an extensive application, peer and senior coach review and an interview conducted by a combination of highly regarded coaches and CEO’s.  Former AFL coach Peter Schwab and 2006 West Coast premiership coach John Worsfold were joined by Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, leading Hockey coach Ric Charlesworth and club CEO’s Trevor Nisbett (West Coast), Greg Swann (Brisbane), Peter Jackson (Melbourne) and Brian Cook (Geelong).

“The course centres around four key components – core coaching modules, an individual learning plan, a program for high impact leadership and individual coach mentoring,” Evans said.

“The core modules will address areas including rules, regulations, governance, integrity, government relations and the economy of the game. Other modules will address quality coaching practice, strategic communications, media training and ethical leadership.”

Evans said the individual learning plan for each coach will be developed with their respective club and coach mentor, designed to round out the skills and experience of the coach.

Before joining Fremantle in 2010, Lloyd was at Hawthorn from 1998-2004 as development coach, psychologist and player development manager, and at Collingwood from 2005 to 2009, filling various roles including high performance manager, psychologist and specialist coach.