MELBOURNE has appointed former Sydney Swans defender/midfielder Daniel McPherson as its new forward line coach.

McPherson, who was a member of Sydney’s 1996 Grand Final team, played 111 matches with the Swans from 1994-2003. He was awarded life membership of the Swans in 2003.

Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said McPherson’s experience as a player and coach with the Swans and other levels would benefit the club.

“With the appointment of Daniel, that completes our coaching group for 2014,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Daniel has previously worked at the Sydney Swans under Paul Roos as a development coach and coached the Swans reserves. He’s also worked with the New South Wales under 18s.

“Since his time at Sydney, he’s had a couple of years off running his own business and we are very happy that he’s decided to get back involved in the AFL. We think Daniel is a great fit for our coaching group.”

Originally from Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong in the Riverina in New South Wales, McPherson played Teal Cup with New South Wales in 1991-92, before he became a much respected team player within the red and white camp.

McPherson played under the legendary Ron Barassi, four-time premiership player Rodney Eade and 2005 premiership coach and new Melbourne coach Paul Roos during his time with the Swans.

Known as ‘Frosty’, McPherson was a playing/assistant coach with North Shore in 2004, his first season out of the AFL. He won the Podbury Medal for best on ground in the Sydney Football League Grand Final.

He became coach of the NSW/ACT Rams and was the under 18 state coach in 2005. In 2006, he was assistant coach of the SFL representative team. He was also Essendon’s NSW recruiting coordinator.

In 2007, McPherson became a runner for Roos at the Swans in a part-time position. In 2008, he joined the Swans full time, working as a development coach with Brett Allison, who also recently joined the Demons.

In 2010, McPherson coached the Swans reserves. 

More recently, he has run his own newsagency business at Bowral in the Southern Highlands.

Meanwhile, Melbourne has appointed former backline development coach and Bulldog player Andrew Nichol to the position of player development manager.

Nichol joined the Demons at the end of the 2011 season as a development coach and worked under Mark Neeld and Neil Craig.

Before joining the Demons, Nichol, a qualified teacher, worked at Scotch College. He also had coaching experience with numerous TAC Cup teams and the under 18 Vic Metro side.