PORT Adelaide has appointed Shane Grimm as its new head of women's football.
Grimm is a longstanding face at the club, having held the role of SANFL and Next Generation Academy manager since 2016.
He will take the reins from Juliet Haslam, who stepped down at the end of last year due to health reasons.
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Grimm has previously been the football manager at SANFL club Sturt, and talent manager for Woodville-West Torrens.
He's a third-generation Port Adelaide player, recording 27 SANFL games for the club in the early 1990s.
"We are very pleased to appoint Shane to this important role," Port Adelaide general manager of football Chris Davies said.
"Shane has been a huge asset to Port Adelaide since he joined us, and his strengths lie in his ability to lead people with purpose, and he’ll do this with both our staff and playing cohort.
"Having worked across the SANFL and Next Generation Academy, his connection to the club and football knowledge will be invaluable to our AFLW program.
"We are all committed to seeing our AFLW group achieve success and I know Shane will lead the program with great energy and expertise."
Port Adelaide recruited heavily from its NGA program late last year; expansion clubs having been given the opportunity to pre-select up to three players – Lauren Young, Shineah Goody and Molly Brooksby – from its own backyard ahead of the draft.
Senior coach Lauren Arnell is aiming to be back on deck for the start of pre-season in June, with Sam Virgo currently acting in the role during the former's maternity leave.
"I'm really happy to be involved in a developing program that is hungry for some success," Grimm said.
"I believe the experience I've gained in developing talent and running footy programs over the last 20 years will assist the growth of our AFLW program.
"I've known Lauren for a couple of years now and have had a lot of conversations with her.
"She understands the game very well and I'm hopeful that I can provide her and the rest of the coaching group with some support going forward, as well as the young, exciting, talented group of players we have, that are keen to improve in 2024."
