SYDNEY AFLW coach Scott Gowans has felt a major shift in how his players want to be coached this pre-season as the League's talent base evolves at a rapid rate ahead of the 2024 season.
For the first time in his nine years coaching women's and youth girls' football at all levels, Gowans has handed significant control to the players to drive drills, reviews, and on-field decision making.
It's a shift that hasn't felt possible in the past as coaching focused on fundamentals and one or two basic modes of play that reflected the elite League's infancy and the limited junior opportunities in women's football.
But preparations for this season have been different as more players join AFLW clubs after more than a decade of junior football, starting at Auskick level and progressing through a fully formed talent pathway.
For Gowans, that talent base and how it will change the League is the most exciting element of the AFLW when he forecasts forward 10 years.
"A lot of our preseason this year was driven by the players, which would never have happened in the past," Gowans told AFL.com.au.
"They would give each other feedback and basically mini coach [the drills]. Then in review, they would say what they saw and coach themselves through that and how they can improve.
"So a lot of player-driven stuff is happening for the first time in my coaching this year, and that's been a big change.
"Then going into games, we've coached our girls to make decisions on changing the mode of play and making positional changes themselves, which is also definitely a first for my coaching."
Gowans has watched the talent base in women's football evolve from his early involvement with Carlton in 2017 when players were judged on basic fundaments.
The 2018 Draft class, which included Geelong's No.1 pick Nina Morrison, marked a shift in the talent pool as players graduated from five-year stints in talent pathways to the elite level.
But behind them have emerged the first groups of players who have navigated an uninterrupted path all the way from Auskick.
"That's been the big change for me, is that the game sense and the talent of decision-making has grown leaps and bounds," Gowans said.
"The kick, mark, handball has developed, but players are taught decision-making and setting a game up and setting the field up and shapes around contests. You can certainly see that coming through now.
"The talent pathway is now there and that's the big thing that excites me about the next 10 years."
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While the talent base will continue to improve the on-field product, Fremantle defender Madeleine Scanlon believes increased professionalism for AFLW players will also be important in the next decade.
Scanlon grew up passionate about playing and watching football but was ushered out of junior footy after two years in Auskick by her coach because of the lack of opportunities for girls.
She didn't start playing again until 2019 and was eventually drafted by the Dockers ahead of the 2022 season, developing quickly into an exciting prospect with a bright future in the League.
"Realistically, AFLW is still in its early stages and to see how much it's grown already in terms of the skill of our players, the professionalism, and the support from the clubs and fan bases, I think it's just exciting to see with another 10 years where that could go," Scanlon told AFL.com.au.
"The professionalism is a massive one. I love talking to students at schools and saying 'When you graduate, this is a genuine career pathway for you now'.
"I think that's so exciting, because a lot of us current players, when we went to school, we weren't able to play footy. There wasn't that opportunity, so now we have girls coming into the league who are playing from such a young age.
"I think we're slowly transitioning into an era where we'll be professional athletes full time, and that's really important for young girls across Australia, especially in those remote communities."
Like Gowans, Scanlon can see the difference in young players who join AFLW clubs after a decade in junior footy, with their skills standing out immediately as well as their game sense.
"Things just seem to come a lot more natural to the girls who've been playing for a longer period of time, and I envy that as someone who's still realistically learning the sport and still improving every single time I go out onto the track," she said.
"Once all these girls are coming through into teams that have been playing their whole lives, we're just expecting that skill level to increase exponentially."
The challenge now for the League is to develop an infrastructure over the next 10 years where players can flourish in a full-time environment, playing longer seasons in front of bigger crowds at tier one venues.
"I'm of the belief that if we were full-time professional athletes right now, the on-field product would probably be greater than what we can produce at the moment being part-time athletes," Scanlon said.
"I'd say almost every girl in our team, we all have either jobs or study outside of footy.
"Hopefully in the future when that professionalism level increases with greater pay, more games, and full-time time commitments then the on-field product will definitely improve.
"I'd like to think that it can be done in 10 years. I personally think it's possible."
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The talent coming through that will shape the next decade of the AFLW has been on show through the Marsh AFL National Championships over the last two months.
Recruiters who watched the Vic Metro versus Vic Country game at Marvel Stadium in July commented on the high standard and high scoring, raising hopes of a bumper Draft crop for players who were only 11 years old when the AFLW competition first began.
For the AFL's national female talent manager Jess Smith, it was the result of years spent building a talent pathway that now reflects what is available for boys in every way, from Auskick through to a National Draft Combine and Talent Academy.
"We're now getting girls that are really athletically gifted and first-choice athletes that could do multiple other sports, but they are choosing footy because of the pathways," Smith told AFL.com.au.
"That gives you hope that that talent is accelerating, and it is exciting when you look at some of the prospects this year.
"It's probably the deepest pool we've had, maybe ever. You wouldn't be too disappointed if you had any of the first-round picks, to be honest."
Smith believes the League is in a strong position to thrive over the next decade with a talent base that is growing and able to be dispersed at the elite level more sustainably after the expansion years.
"It feels like its most exciting time is ahead of it. The competition keeps getting better and we have settled now through expansions before Tasmania, so it's in such a better place to succeed now," Smith said.
"You just hope that the game keeps improving as a product, the skills get better, and the athleticism gets better, which I think we've seen every year.
"If that keeps happening over the next 10 years, I think we're in for an amazing product."
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The players now working their way through the talent pathway who will drive the next decade of the AFLW share Smith's outlook for the League.
Matilda Power and Bella Nelson are part of the Western Australian State 16s team and came to football in different ways.
Power picked up a footy as a 12-year-old at school and quickly fell in love with the game, while Nelson started in Auskick after watching her older brother and continued to play alongside the boys before moving into the junior girls' talent pathway.
Both, however, are proof of how the new infrastructure around girls' football will change the AFLW over the next 10 years.
"Joining the under-16s and travelling for the Championships is what sowed the seeds for Matilda and opened her eyes to thinking, 'If everything fell in the right way, there's a pathway here'," father Phil Power said.
"These girls Matilda's age now have got a massive advantage because you can see their skill level and their knowledge of the game will be just so strong.
"There's going to be a mass number of girls participating over the next few years and it'll be really interesting watching it evolve."
Fellow under-16s talent Nelson is an example of a young player who has been inspired by the AFLW as a League, working hard from a young age to realise her dream.
Where an established player like Scanlon was encouraged not to pursue the game after Auskick, Nelson has moved through the ranks continually since she was introduced to the game.
While Gowans draws energy from the new possibilities with his Sydney squad, the coaching scope for Nelson's generation should be even greater.
"We just got back from school girls and know everyone was taking contested marks, kicking goals and using their left and right sides," Nelson's mother Kristen said.
"The skills are so good and these girls just want to learn and get better every day. It's a really good environment when you see them out there and see what they're doing now.
"That feels like it's been a long time coming and it strikes me as maybe the biggest difference between where the AFLW is right now and where it can be in 10 years with this generation starting earlier."
