‘Honoured’: Swans appoint former Kangaroos coach as AFLW mentor
The Sydney Swans have appointed former North Melbourne AFLW coach Scott Gowans to head their women’s team for their inaugural season in 2023.
Gowans steered the Kangaroos to 11 wins from 14 games in 2020 before the season was shut down due to COVID-19 and he was shown the door by the club.
Scott Gowans will coach the Sydney Swans in their inaugural AFLW season next year.Credit:Jason South
Since then, he has been an assistant within the Carlton and Collingwood AFLW programs, and prior to that worked in women’s football at state and junior level in Victoria.
His unveiling comes as the Swans revealed they had become the first club to surpass 4000 AFLW members, a year out from their long-awaited debut in the competition.
Many Swans fans had wanted a female to lead their new women’s team, but Gowans said part of his remit was to bring through a generation of female coaches and wanted that to be his “legacy” in Sydney.
“It’s a great opportunity to be a senior coach at the Sydney Swans and I’m honoured to be able to coach the club’s first AFLW team,” Gowans said.
“I’ve heard a lot about this club and how close-knit the family at the club is, and I want to be part of that, and hopefully build something that will lead us to success.
“Part of my role will be focused on developing coaches and I’m keen to ensure I’m setting that legacy straight away. I’ve been very big on helping female coaches develop and I’ve taken over 20 coaches through to their level two course as a mentor. It’s something I’m really passionate about.”
Kate Mahony, Sydney’s executive general manager of AFLW, said the Swans had been impressed by Gowans’ achievements in the women’s game as well as his passion and desire to mentor others.
“We’re thrilled to have someone of Scott’s calibre as our inaugural head coach and leading the development of future coaches in the women’s game,” Mahony said.
“This appointment marks a significant milestone for our club and enables us to get started on building our list ahead of Sydney’s first AFLW season.”
The Swans will play their AFLW home games at Henson Park in Marrickville, where the GWS Giants beat the Western Bulldogs by 22 points last week in the first match played for premiership points at the inner-west ground.
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