List of Fremantle Football Club coaches

Since becoming a member of the Australian Football League (AFL) in 1995, there have been six permanent senior coaches of the Fremantle Football Club men's team, and three of the women's team. There have also been three caretaker coaches, who coached for short periods after the permanent coach was sacked or unavailable.

The Fremantle Women's football team has played in the AFL Women's league since its inauguration in 2017. Michelle Cowan was the inaugural coach, before her resignation in April 2017. Trent Cooper coached the team from the 2019 AFL Women's season ^[1] until he was replaced by former player Lisa Webb in 2023.

AFL

Statistics current to completion of the 2025 AFL season ^[2]

Men's team

#	Coach	Seasons	Total games					Finals games				Achievements
			G	W	L	D	Win%	G	W	L	Win%
1	Gerard Neesham	1995–1998	88	32	56	0	36.4	—	—	—	—
2	Damian Drum	1999–2001 [a]	53	13	40	0	24.5	—	—	—	—
3	Chris Connolly	2002–2007 [b]	129	67	62	0	51.9	4	1	3	25.0
4	Mark Harvey	2007 [b] –2011 [c]	97	39	58	0	40.2	2	1	1	50.0
5	Ross Lyon	2012–2019 [d]	184	96	87	1	52.4	9	4	5	44.4	2013 Runners-up 2015 Minor Premiers
6	Justin Longmuir	2020–	131	69	60	2	45.8	3	1	2	33.3

Acting/Acting/Caretaker coaches

#	Coach	Seasons	Total games					Finals games
			G	W	L	D	Win%	G	W	L	Win%
1	Ben Allan	2001 [a]	13	2	11	0	18.2	—	—	—	—
2	David Hale	2019 [d]	1	0	1	0	0.0	—	—	—	—
3	Jaymie Graham	2022 [e]	2	2	0	0	100.0	—	—	—	—

AFLW

Statistics current to round 4 of the 2025 AFLW season

Women's team

#	Coach	Seasons	Total games					Finals games				Achievements
			G	W	L	D	Win%	G	W	L	Win%
1	Michelle Cowan	2017–2018	14	4	9	1	32.1	—	—	—	—
2	Trent Cooper	2019–2022 (S7)	47	30	16	1	64.9	5	2	3	40.0
3	Lisa Webb	2023–	27	14	13	0	51.9	2	1	1	50.0

Key

#	Number of coaches
G	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
D	Draws
Win%	Winning percentage
†	Caretaker coach

Notes

• ^a Damian Drum was sacked as the Fremantle coach following the club's round 9 defeat to Sydney, their 10th consecutive loss. Ben Allan was appointed caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2001 season but had declared that he had no intention of applying for the senior coach's job for the 2002 season, ^[3] and Chris Connolly was appointed at the end of the 2001 season.
• ^b Chris Connolly resigned as the Fremantle coach following the club's round 15 loss to Kangaroos. ^[4] Mark Harvey (then an assistant coach at FFC) was appointed caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2007 season, and as a result of his success (four wins from his seven matches), he was given the permanent position as Fremantle's coach. ^[5]
• ^c Mark Harvey was sacked in controversial circumstances at the end of the 2011 season, with a year left on his contract, in a surprise move that saw Ross Lyon resign from St Kilda to take up the post. ^[6]
• ^d David Hale coached the final round of the 2019 AFL season after Ross Lyon was sacked as coach. ^[7]
• ^e Jaymie Graham was appointed the fill-in coach for the Round 3 and 4 matches in 2022 when Justin Longmuir was required to isolate at home after being declared a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case. ^[8]

References

General

• Michael Lovett, ed. (2011). "Coaches". AFL Record Season Guide 2011. The Slattery Media Group. p. 690. ISBN   9781921778193.

Specific

1. "AFLW: Trent Cooper named as Michelle Cowan's successor at Fremantle". www.foxsports.com.au. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
2. "Fremantle Coaches Win–loss records".
3. "The Main Players". Football Record (Round 14): 28. 2001.
4. "Fremantle coach Connolly resigns". AFL BigPond Network. 19 July 2007. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
5. "Harvey named as Fremantle coach". foxsports.com.au. 17 September 2007. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
6. Porter, Barney (16 September 2011). "A tale of two coaches". The World Today.
7. "Hale Freo's seventh senior coach". PerthNow. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
8. "Dockers coach to MISS crunch derby with ex-Eagles boss to step in". Fox Sports. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.