| Michelle Cowan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Cowan in January 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth | 1982 (age 41–42) | ||
| Place of birth | Durban, South Africa | ||
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 2017–2018 | Fremantle | 14 (4–9–1) | |
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2018. | |||
Michelle Cowan (born 1982) is an Australian rules football coach who was the inaugural head coach of the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW).
Cowan lived in Durban, South Africa, before moving to Kambalda, Western Australia at the age of four. [1]
After completing high school, Cowan contacted all sixteen AFL clubs to seek a coaching position. After no interest from fifteen of the clubs, Geelong agreed to meet with her and appointed her as a Western Australian based talent scout at just seventeen years of age. [2] At 21 years of age, Cowan became the first female assistant coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) when she became the midfield coach with the West Perth Football Club. [3] She spent eight years with West Perth before moving to the South Fremantle Football Club, also as the midfield coach. [4]
In 2013, she was appointed the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club's women's team during the women's exhibition series and in the same year she was named as the Football Woman of the Year. [5] She coached Melbourne for all three years of the exhibition series - winning 5 out of the 6 matches and in February 2016, she became the first female assistant coach in Melbourne's history and the second in AFL history when she became the player development and welfare coach. [6] Due to family reasons she left the club in July and became the inaugural coach of the Fremantle AFL Women's team. [7]
After entering the inaugural AFL Women's season as favourites to win the premiership, Fremantle failed to live up to the pre-season expectation with the AFL head of female football and junior development, Josh Vanderloo, stating the reason was most likely due to injuries to key players and losing elite Western Australian talent to other states as marquee signings. [8] Cowan finished the season with one win, five losses and a draw. [9]
Fremantle finished the 2018 season with three wins, finishing seventh. Cowan was in discussions to extend her contract for the 2019 season, but instead chose to resign as head coach. [10]
Cowan was approached by West Coast Eagles after leaving Fremantle, who offered her a contract for the 2020 AFLW season. She is also currently the AFL’s High Performance Coach / Mentor for the Female Coach Academy. [11]
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | LP | Ladder position | LT | League teams | ||
Melbourne Exhibition Games 5 Wins 1 Loss
| Season | Team | Games | W | L | D | W % | LP | LT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Fremantle | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 14.3% | 7 | 8 |
| 2018 | Fremantle | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.9% | 7 | 8 |
| Career totals | 14 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 28.6% | |||
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fremantle, a stronghold of Australian rules football in Western Australia. The Dockers were the second team from the state to be admitted to the competition, following the West Coast Eagles in 1987. Both Fremantle and the West Coast Eagles are owned by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC), with a board of directors operating Fremantle on the commission's behalf.
Kara Antonio is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition.
Stephanie Chiocci is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Collingwood Football Club from 2017 to 2022 (S7). Chiocci served as Collingwood captain for the duration of her Collingwood career, including as co-captain alongside Brianna Davey from 2021 to season seven.
Kellie-Maree Gibson is an Australian rules footballer playing for West Coast in the AFL Women's competition. She was one of Adelaide's two marquee players in the inaugural AFL Women's season and has also played for Fremantle. A multi-sport athlete, Gibson began her athletic career as a sprinter, and won a gold medal in rugby sevens at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.
Dana Hooker is an Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Fremantle Football Club from 2017 to 2019. Hooker is a dual AFL Women's All-Australian, and was the inaugural Fremantle fairest and best winner in 2017 and inaugural West Coast Club Champion in 2020.
Ebony Antonio is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Antonio represented The Allies in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match in 2017, and won AFL Women's All-Australian selection and the Fremantle fairest and best award in 2018. She also won the Goal of the Year and shared the Western Derby Medal with Kiara Bowers in 2022 season 6.
Kirby Bentley is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle and Carlton Football Clubs in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Bentley was signed as a priority player by Fremantle in August 2016 ahead of the league's inaugural 2017 season. She made her debut in Round 1, 2017, in the club's inaugural match against Western Bulldogs at VU Whitten Oval.
Hayley Miller is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. Miller won the Fremantle fairest and best and leading goalkicker awards in season 6 and was named in the 2022 AFL Women's season 6 All-Australian team. She served as Fremantle captain from season 6 to 2023, and is Fremantle's games record holder with 73 games.
Lara Filocamo is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. Filocamo was drafted by Fremantle with their fourth selection and twenty-ninth overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the thirty-two point loss to the Western Bulldogs at VU Whitten Oval in the opening round of the 2017 season. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven matches. She was delisted by Fremantle at the end of the 2018 season.
Tiah Toth is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition.
Belinda Smith is an Australian rules footballer playing for West Coast in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
Akec Makur Chuot is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club, Richmond Football Club, and Hawthorn Football Club in the AFL Women's competition.
Gabby O'Sullivan is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's. She is also a former basketball player.
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Beatrice Devlyn is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. Devlyn was recruited by Fremantle as an injury replacement player in January 2017. She made her debut in the twenty-three point loss to Adelaide at Fremantle Oval in round four of the 2017 season. She played the next week before she was omitted for the round six match against Carlton to finish with two matches for the season. She was delisted at the end of the 2017 season. She was subsequently re-drafted as a rookie by Fremantle with pick No. 16 in the 2017 rookie draft.
The 2018 AFL Women's season was the second season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eight clubs and ran from 2 February to 24 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs.
Lisa Webb is a former Australian rules footballer and current senior coach of the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
Angelique Stannett is an Australian rules footballer and the captain of the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She is a former soccer player for Perth Glory in the W-League.
Trent Aaron Cooper is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. Cooper was the senior coach of Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) for five seasons before departing the club in November 2022 after not being offered a new contract.
