Callipygian
Team Player
- May 18, 2021
- 3,377
- 7,405
- AFL Club
- Sydney
It comes to my attention that we don't have a thread for Scott 'Go Swans!' Gowans, and I think we should because I'm a big fan and so I'm starting one.
Scotty is, to date, our first and only AFLW head coach. He was appointed ahead of our first season (season 7) by Tom Harley, Kate Mahoney and whoever else was involved in the appointment. Soon after the AFL ambushed us and gave us scant weeks to build a list to compete in season 7 after dramatically bringing forward the start date.
Short bio
Scott's journey into coaching happened after his playing days were over and he was taking his kids (including two daughters) to play footy. He would watch their games and then he was asked to help and then to coach. He wound up going on to coach at Berwick. From there his mate, Dean Rice, invited him to help out as the backline coach for the Vic Metro U18 Girls. (Simultaneously he and his wife, Jodie, had a charcoal chicken business in Rosebud that he apparently wound up spending not much time at as he divided his time between 3-4 coaching jobs).
* Scott began coaching women and girls with Diamond Creek in the VFLW in about 2012.
* Scott was first appointed a senior head coach of Longwarry in the Ellinbank and District Football Leagued, based in West Gippsland, in early 2015 after serving a three year apprenticeship as assistant to Dean Rice (former Carlton premiership player). At the time he was appointed to that role he was already involved in coaching the Vic Metro and Dandenong Stingrays Youth Girls teams: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/s...n/news-story/f8aeff08c572d6d2adc1b7807c8a7fd2. He had been appointed as head coach of the Stingrays Girls Academy team from its inception late in 2014.
* He continued as Longwarry and Dandenong Girls head coach roles through 2015 and 2016, best I can tell. However he jumped the fence and coached Vic Country girls at the National Champs in 2016 - apparently this is because Dandenong started off as belonging to Vic Metro in the girls comp before later being switched to Vic Country (as with the boys) after player registration patterns changed: https://www.afl.com.au/news/143158/aflw-u18-vic-country-snares-historic-win. He coached Vic Country Girls again in 2017 and coached them to their first win over Vic Metro and then on to win the title.
* In 2016 Scott was appointed an inaugural assistant coach of Carlton's AFLW team, while he continued with Vic Country and Longwarry: https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/292943/gowans-departs-ikon-park.
* Gowans success then led to him being appointed as coach of the inaugural North Melbourne AFLW team late in 2017, ahead of their 2019 entry to the competition: https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/291180/gowans-appointed-aflw-coach. As part of this role he coached the Melbourne University Women's Football Club (MUWFC) in 2018. This brought an end to his involvement with his other coaching roles at Longwarry, Dandenong etc.
* While coaching NMFC Gowans won 11 out of 14 possible AFLW matches over two seasons. The second season was in 2020 and majorly disrupted by the pandemic. North made finals and defeated Collingwood in a semi-final before the season was abandoned and there was no winner. 10 weeks later Gowans was abruptly sacked after NMFC decided they had to make cuts and that it would be cheaper to appoint existing men's talent scout (and previous AFL caretaker senior coach), Darren Crocker, to be AFLW coach also (a move that is working out well at this poing in time with NMFC just having won 23 games on the trot and equalled the all time VFL/AFL/AFLW record for consecutive games won): https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/af.../news-story/12714698969bb84f2b22725f3d7da471; https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/702263...USUrswqHfL7HOJGWre9YLb6ua3q5MZNLxhreokXBQ1Zb0.
* From late 2020, Gowans spent two seasons at the Pies as assistant coach before leaving to take up the role of head coach with us: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/999911/the-unlikely-face-in-gowans-final-swans-interview; https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/1054934/gowans-departs-pies.
From there, we're probably more familiar with the story. Scott and Kate Mahoney built the list from scratch in next to no time. Scott described this as disheartening (due to the number of knockbacks) and "probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life": interview on True Bloods after R4 2025. Winless in our first season, we rebounded to make finals and win our first final in our second season. In that year Scott Gowans won AFLW Senior Coach of the Year award (jointly with Craig Starcevich). Our 3rd season was blighted by a number of injuries to senior players and we fell back down the ladder as our lack of depth was exposed. Over the off-season we recruited strongly and we're on the cusp of finals in 2025, our fourth season.
Gowans has made developing female and male coaches in the women's footy space a priority since his arrival at the club. And we have seen the likes of Hetherington and Lochland blossom as assistant coaches under his tenure. I would say he is also a particularly straight talker in the media, and this is a trait that has followed him since at least his Longwarry days.
Scott has confessed to (bedford, look away now) traditionally being a St Kilda fan.
[I may continue to update this post as I get more info to fill it in.]
During the 2024 pre-season we extended Scott to the end of the 2027 season.
Scotty is, to date, our first and only AFLW head coach. He was appointed ahead of our first season (season 7) by Tom Harley, Kate Mahoney and whoever else was involved in the appointment. Soon after the AFL ambushed us and gave us scant weeks to build a list to compete in season 7 after dramatically bringing forward the start date.
Short bio
Scott's journey into coaching happened after his playing days were over and he was taking his kids (including two daughters) to play footy. He would watch their games and then he was asked to help and then to coach. He wound up going on to coach at Berwick. From there his mate, Dean Rice, invited him to help out as the backline coach for the Vic Metro U18 Girls. (Simultaneously he and his wife, Jodie, had a charcoal chicken business in Rosebud that he apparently wound up spending not much time at as he divided his time between 3-4 coaching jobs).
* Scott began coaching women and girls with Diamond Creek in the VFLW in about 2012.
* Scott was first appointed a senior head coach of Longwarry in the Ellinbank and District Football Leagued, based in West Gippsland, in early 2015 after serving a three year apprenticeship as assistant to Dean Rice (former Carlton premiership player). At the time he was appointed to that role he was already involved in coaching the Vic Metro and Dandenong Stingrays Youth Girls teams: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/s...n/news-story/f8aeff08c572d6d2adc1b7807c8a7fd2. He had been appointed as head coach of the Stingrays Girls Academy team from its inception late in 2014.
* He continued as Longwarry and Dandenong Girls head coach roles through 2015 and 2016, best I can tell. However he jumped the fence and coached Vic Country girls at the National Champs in 2016 - apparently this is because Dandenong started off as belonging to Vic Metro in the girls comp before later being switched to Vic Country (as with the boys) after player registration patterns changed: https://www.afl.com.au/news/143158/aflw-u18-vic-country-snares-historic-win. He coached Vic Country Girls again in 2017 and coached them to their first win over Vic Metro and then on to win the title.
* In 2016 Scott was appointed an inaugural assistant coach of Carlton's AFLW team, while he continued with Vic Country and Longwarry: https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/292943/gowans-departs-ikon-park.
* Gowans success then led to him being appointed as coach of the inaugural North Melbourne AFLW team late in 2017, ahead of their 2019 entry to the competition: https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/291180/gowans-appointed-aflw-coach. As part of this role he coached the Melbourne University Women's Football Club (MUWFC) in 2018. This brought an end to his involvement with his other coaching roles at Longwarry, Dandenong etc.
* While coaching NMFC Gowans won 11 out of 14 possible AFLW matches over two seasons. The second season was in 2020 and majorly disrupted by the pandemic. North made finals and defeated Collingwood in a semi-final before the season was abandoned and there was no winner. 10 weeks later Gowans was abruptly sacked after NMFC decided they had to make cuts and that it would be cheaper to appoint existing men's talent scout (and previous AFL caretaker senior coach), Darren Crocker, to be AFLW coach also (a move that is working out well at this poing in time with NMFC just having won 23 games on the trot and equalled the all time VFL/AFL/AFLW record for consecutive games won): https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/af.../news-story/12714698969bb84f2b22725f3d7da471; https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/702263...USUrswqHfL7HOJGWre9YLb6ua3q5MZNLxhreokXBQ1Zb0.
* From late 2020, Gowans spent two seasons at the Pies as assistant coach before leaving to take up the role of head coach with us: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/999911/the-unlikely-face-in-gowans-final-swans-interview; https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/1054934/gowans-departs-pies.
From there, we're probably more familiar with the story. Scott and Kate Mahoney built the list from scratch in next to no time. Scott described this as disheartening (due to the number of knockbacks) and "probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life": interview on True Bloods after R4 2025. Winless in our first season, we rebounded to make finals and win our first final in our second season. In that year Scott Gowans won AFLW Senior Coach of the Year award (jointly with Craig Starcevich). Our 3rd season was blighted by a number of injuries to senior players and we fell back down the ladder as our lack of depth was exposed. Over the off-season we recruited strongly and we're on the cusp of finals in 2025, our fourth season.
Gowans has made developing female and male coaches in the women's footy space a priority since his arrival at the club. And we have seen the likes of Hetherington and Lochland blossom as assistant coaches under his tenure. I would say he is also a particularly straight talker in the media, and this is a trait that has followed him since at least his Longwarry days.
Scott has confessed to (bedford, look away now) traditionally being a St Kilda fan.
[I may continue to update this post as I get more info to fill it in.]
During the 2024 pre-season we extended Scott to the end of the 2027 season.
Last edited:
