AFLW senior coach Scott Gowans appeared in his weekly press conference on Wednesday, October 16. He discussed goals for the remainder of the season, the development of the league and provided an update on Laura Gardiner's injury. 

See what he had to say below. 

On the remainder of the 2024 season

“We've got a lot out of this season…we've had a lot of opportunities to win games and we've had those three close games. If we got those then we’d probably sitting in the eight. So, it's an interesting season, but I think that the benefit is the [young players] that have come through and got opportunities.

“I think of Holly Cooper and her development and chance to play on Ash Riddell on the weekend and she learnt so much from that game and you can't buy that sort of learning.”

On Round 7

“We wanted to take them on and keep taking them on and get the lessons out of it and I think on reflection that probably kept us in the game at patches as well. There's probably 20 or 30 percent of the game, they were just so good that they got away from us. You look at the territory game and some players that stood up against the best team in the competition, there's a lot to take away from it.”

On improving the quality of AFLW

“A lot of has happened in the condensed fixture and we'll get a lot of learnings out of that and I'm sure at the end of the season we'll all talk about it and see what we do going forward as an industry…Other coaches might have different tactics that they're trying to teach their players and we're not privy to that, but as a general philosophy for AFLW it's really important that we take the game on and put on a good show to lift numbers that come to the game and broadcast. We all have a vested interest in that as a collective, so it's vital that we keep doing that and I'm sure that's the aim of all the coaches. It's just at different times, games can look a little bit different and different circumstances and without being privy to the why and the why nots it's difficult to comment on it.”

On the development of the league

“The main thing that's gone up is the pressure. Teams are pressuring better, they're defending better, we've noticed a significant shift in the way that players slide back behind the ball then the ability to take the ball forward from that is critical…it's just we haven't been able to convert the opportunities we get forward and the weekend was a classic example of that. I think what will happen over the course of the summer is teams will now go to work on that a little bit and that's the way the game evolves.”

On tackling stats from Round 7

“We had a target of 100 [tackles] so to achieve 110 was special. We were adamant that we just wanted to pressure them and then try and get the offence going off that, we were able to in moments in the game but gee you move the ball, and they just turn it over so quick and what they do well is they punish you on turnover. We got smashed in that area of the game, but I was really proud of our effort and intensity.  

“Speaking on the last little bit of the season we've got three games to go and we've got some really clear goals we've set and one of them is pressure and then trying to get our offence going off the back of that.”

On Sofia Hurley

“Her season has been so consistent and she's a classic example of a player that pressures and then gets your turnover the other way. She's fit and healthy and she's got a huge workload too with her uni as well. So, to be able to concentrate on that and then be able to perform shows you that she's a special player and I'm really looking forward to what she'll bring over the next two or three seasons.”

On Laura Gardiner’s injury 

“She'll follow protocols now and just go through what the strength and conditioning team wanted to do. If she progresses as well as she is at the moment, she could be a chance for the last round. Of course, we wouldn't take any risk with Laura and she'd have to tick every box from between now and then to get up for round 10 but it's absolutely a chance.”

On Montana Ham

“She pulled up really well, she's just gone and had a kick today, she'll train tomorrow then we'll know tomorrow. Again, it's just zero risk with her and so far so good this week, she's fine but you never know with feet what can happen. If she gets through training and pulls up okay, she'll play and if she gets through training and pulls up even a little bit sore we won't take any risk.”

On Round 8 against the Gold Coast Suns

“I know they're anxious for their first win of the season. They've been extremely unlucky, they've had three results recently that are sort of around that two goal margin and they played really well against the Brisbane Lions. Henson Park will be rocking and hopefully we can put our best foot forward. We're really looking forward to building on what we did last week and then turning that into more offence.”