ONE THRILL TO THE

GEELONG assistant coach Aaron D’Antino has jumped at the opportunity of a lifetime to join Arsenal as a senior women’s assistant coach to Joe Montemurro.

The 30-year-old flew out to London on Wednesday to start his new role with the powerhouse club, leaving behind his wife and one-yearold son, who will not join him until January.

This is a job that will change the D’Antino family’s life and hopefully kickstart his coaching career.

The former North Geelong Warriors captain has been Melbourne Victory’s head of performance analysis for the past five years, where he has helped Kevin Muscat’s men to championships in 2015 and 2018.

On the side, D’Antino has experimented with coaching, first at Altona City in State League 1, then as a playing assistant at Bell Park, before receiving a call to join Geelong as an assistant coach earlier this season.

But D’Antino was ready for a change and had gone through the process of acquiring a European passport with eyes on the hope of gaining an opportunity overseas.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long time, I guess we’ve fantasised about the idea of one day being able to operate overseas,” he told the Geelong Advertiser.

“We always planned it, hence me having my European passport.

“Naturally, when the offer came, it all happened very quickly. It’s just that period now where we’re jumping into the unknown.”

Word spread through D’Antino’s circles that Montemurro, a former Melbourne City senior assistant, had offered the job to a contact who passed up the opportunity.

When D’Antino heard the vacancy still needed to be filled, he sent off a few texts which made their way to Montemurro.

After catching up for a coffee with the Gunners coach, he received the job offer, flipping his family’s life on its head.

“I’ve been doing video analysis for Melbourne Victory for the past five years,” D’Antino said.

“I was looking for a change in everything, really. I just wanted to test myself at another organisation, learn from different people, experience a different culture and I wanted to move into coaching.

“Once we talked about it and I had spoken about it with my wife, we looked at it and thought this is an opportunity I don’t think I can knock back.

“It’s a coaching role first and foremost, I’m on the park