Vitale Ferrante appointed as Essendon Royals Senior Development Technical Director
Vitale Ferrante has been appointed in the new role of Senior Development Technical Director at Essendon Royals in Season 2023.
The Club’s former Senior Men’s coach and NPL Coach of the Year, will oversee the club’s senior program and will work with the NPL Under-18, Under-21 and NPL3 Senior Squads and their coaches to provide tailored developmental coaching, mentoring and advice to prepare these players for first-team football at Essendon Royals and beyond.
With this appointment, the Royals are delighted to have someone of Ferrante’s experience and track record in guiding young footballers in their preparation for senior football in such a focused role.
Ferrante said that with the Club having achieved its stated aim of promotion from State League 1 into the NPL3 division, the move into this role was a natural progression.
“This is something I’m very excited about and something I’m very passionate about,” he said.
“This club has always had a very strong junior program, but until our senior program was able to get into NPL3, it has never been truly aligned.
“Now that the program is an NPL3 senior program, I feel like we have that alignment, and we have a great chance to start keeping our talented players at the club and see them progress into our senior program.
“My role will be to oversee the top of that development pyramid and work with the players who are in those crucial ages between 18 and 21 to see more juniors push their way into our senior men’s squad.”
Ferrante has a great track record of blending youth and experience as a senior coach and having brought several talented young players who would go on to play a considerable amount of games for the club over his tenure as senior coach – including the likes of Jake Montagnese, Jack Warrick and Mo Abbas – he is looking forward to increasing the visibility of the club’s up-and-coming players.
Ferrante has also been working within the club’s Junior Boys NPL program since its first season in 2020 and is familiar with many of the players in this program.
“I hope that with that blend of experience and knowledge of our senior and junior players, I can oversee and facilitate the development and preparation of the young boys breaking into the senior set-up,” he said.
“I think it’s great that the club has decided to back this role in and this vision for our juniors.
“We are very lucky to have the likes of Vaughan Coveny and Michael Curcija as Head of Football and Technical Director, respectively, and I hope that this role, will truly create the vertical integration and focussed transition needed for our talented juniors into future seniors.
With two Royals teams playing Division 1 NPL football in 2022, and an NPL Under-18 side that provided a wealth of players to the club’s Championship-winning Reserves team, the Royals have a strong base to work with and look forward to supporting Ferrante and the rest of the Technical staff in their efforts to promote the club’s talented youngsters.
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