Panmure yesterday revealed brothers Nathan and Mark Murphy had joined the club from Hampden league finalist North Warrnambool Eagles.

The revelation came less than 24 hours after it announced David Haynes — who coached the Eagles for three seasons — as playing coach. The Murphys played under Haynes during the first of their two seasons at Bushfield, in 2013. Nathan will be an assistant coach, alongside Shaun Griffin.

Nathan said wanting to take on a coaching role prompted his decision to sign as Haynes’ understudy.

“Obviously he’s played AFL, he’s got really good match sense and really good game structures in his training and he pushes you,” he said.

“I really liked the way he went about it.”

The brothers join Panmure after contrasting seasons with North Warrnambool Eagles, which lost to Koroit in the Hampden league preliminary final.

Mark, 22, was among the competition’s stars, booting 66 goals in 20 matches,  including hauls of eight against Camperdown and seven against Cobden.

But injury limited Nathan, 26, to just seven matches, two of which were in the reserves.

“I considered staying at North but I thought my body was slowing down a bit. Cricket and footy takes its toll,” he said.

“Maybe (becoming an assistant) could be a stepping stone to being a senior coach … It’s for this year only at the moment, we’ll see how we go.

“I’m not looking too far ahead. I want to get into pre-season, enjoy that, meet a few of the boys and go from there.”

Nathan said he was pleased he could play alongside Mark. The brothers are at different cricket clubs this summer but were keen to play football together.

“We always said we’d play our footy together. Our grandmother comes and watches us so it makes it a bit easier for her,” he said.

Haynes said he was excited the Murphys, who he lured to North in 2013, were joining him at the Bulldogs.

He said Nathan’s desire to coach was no secret. So when Haynes landed the Bulldogs job, he asked him to be his assistant.

“They’re both quality players. I knew Nathan wanted to get into coaching,” he said.

Nathan and Mark are expected to play key roles in the Bulldogs’ midfield after the departure of dual premiership coach Simon O’Keefe.

Mark will also boost the Bulldogs’ scoring power.