Michelle Cowan

{{short description|Australian rules football coach|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Michelle Cowan

| image = Michelle Cowan.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = Cowan in January 2017

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1982 }}

| birth_place = Durban, South Africa

| death_date =

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| originalteam =

| height =

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| coachyears1 = 2017–2018

| coachclub1 = {{AFLW|Fre}}

| coachgames_wins1 = 14 (4–9–1)

| coachstatsend = 2018

| careerhighlights =

}}

Michelle Cowan (born 1982) is an Australian rules football coach who was the inaugural head coach of the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW).

Early life

Cowan lived in Durban, South Africa, before moving to Kambalda, Western Australia at the age of four.{{cite news|url=http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-06-26/coach-michelle-cowan-loves-the-spectacle-|title=Coach Michelle Cowan loved football from an early age|last=Phelan|first=Jennifer|date=26 June 2014|work=AFL.com.au|publisher=Bigpond|accessdate=2 September 2017}}

Coaching career

After completing high school, Cowan contacted all sixteen AFL clubs to seek a coaching position. After no interest from fifteen of the clubs, {{AFL Gee}} agreed to meet with her and appointed her as a Western Australian based talent scout at just seventeen years of age.{{cite news|url=http://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/stm/michelle-cowan-call-me-coach/news-story/ef43022f9ae457b65ce31a728c764979|title=Michelle Cowan: Call me coach|last=Carew-Reid|first=Anna|date=5 September 2016|work=Perth Now|publisher=Seven West Media|accessdate=2 September 2017}} At 21 years of age, Cowan became the first female assistant coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) when she became the midfield coach with the West Perth Football Club.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/06/27/3534081.htm|title=Who are you? Michelle Cowan|date=27 June 2012|work=ABC Online|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2 September 2017}} She spent eight years with West Perth before moving to the South Fremantle Football Club, also as the midfield coach.{{cite news|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/zela/article/2016/08/15/coach-profile-michelle-cowan-leads-fremantle-dockers-first-womens-national-league|title=Coach profile: Michelle Cowan leads Fremantle Dockers into first women's national league|date=15 August 2016|work=SBS|accessdate=2 September 2017}}

In 2013, she was appointed the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club's women's team during the women's exhibition series and in the same year she was named as the Football Woman of the Year.{{cite news|url=http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-09-26/cowan-named-football-woman-of-the-year|title=Cowan named Football Woman of the Year|date=26 September 2013|work=MelbourneFC.com.au|publisher=Bigpond|accessdate=2 September 2017}} She coached Melbourne for all three years of the exhibition series - winning 5 out of the 6 matches and in February 2016, she became the first female assistant coach in Melbourne's history and the second in AFL history when she became the player development and welfare coach.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/afl/melbourne-demons/michelle-cowan-appointed-to-melbournes-coaching-staff-20160203-gmkpkt.html|title=Michelle Cowan appointed to Melbourne's coaching staff|last=Lane|first=Samantha|date=4 February 2016|work=The Age|publisher=Fairfax Media|accessdate=2 September 2017}} Due to family reasons she left the club in July and became the inaugural coach of the Fremantle AFL Women's team.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbournes-michelle-cowan-leaves-demons-for-fremantle-20160701-gpw8hz.html|title=Coach coup: Melbourne's loss, Docker gain with pioneer Michelle Cowan crossing to Freo|last=Lane|first=Samantha|date=1 July 2016|work=The Age|publisher=Fairfax Media|accessdate=2 September 2017}}

After entering the inaugural AFL Women's season as favourites to win the premiership, Fremantle failed to live up to the pre-season expectation with the AFL head of female football and junior development, Josh Vanderloo, stating the reason was most likely due to injuries to key players and losing elite Western Australian talent to other states as marquee signings.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/womens-afl/the-perfect-storm-behind-aflw-preseason-flag-favourites-fremantles-fall-from-grace-in-2017/news-story/2258b87ba16f0dd1948c74bb73d633d5|title=The perfect storm behind AFLW preseason flag favourites Fremantle's fall from grace in 2017|last=Harrington|first=Anna|date=24 February 2017|work=Fox Sports (Australia)|publisher=News Corp Australia|accessdate=2 September 2017}} Cowan finished the season with one win, five losses and a draw.{{cite web|url=http://australianfootball.com/clubs/stats/Fremantle%2BWFC/2855/2017|title=Fremantle–2017 AFLW|work=AustralianFootball.com|accessdate=1 September 2017}}

Fremantle finished the 2018 season with three wins, finishing seventh. Cowan was in discussions to extend her contract for the 2019 season, but instead chose to resign as head coach.{{cite news|url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/dockers-coach-cowan-quits-aflw-post-20180419-p4zami.html|title=Dockers coach Cowan quits AFLW post|first=Justin|last=Chadwick|newspaper=The Age|date=19 April 2018|access-date=29 June 2021}}

Cowan was approached by West Coast Eagles after leaving Fremantle, who offered her a contract for the 2020 AFLW season. She is also currently the AFL’s High Performance Coach / Mentor for the Female Coach Academy.{{cite web|last1=King|first1=Travis|title=AFLW: Freo coach steps aside after two years|url=http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-19/aflw-freo-coach-cowan-steps-aside-after-two-years|website=afl.com.au|accessdate=20 April 2018|date=19 April 2018}}