Port Adelaide AFLW defender Ella Heads says there is a renewed sense of energy and connection around the playing group as the club settles into its first pre-season under new senior coach Glenn Strachan.

Speaking from the club’s AFLW community camp in the Riverland, Head reflected on her off-season preparations, the influence of the refreshed coaching group, and the importance of creating visible pathways for young girls through programs like Empowered and community engagement initiatives.

She also touched on the game style, and what the group has planned during their annual pre-season camp underway across the weekend in Waikerie.

Heads on her off-season preparations

“We obviously have a really long off season, so it was really nice to just get back home. I'm obviously from Sydney, so it was nice to spend a bit of time there. I did an intensive week of training there with a specialist skills coaches, and it was cool to just learn a bit more about my body and how I am as an athlete and do some testing. It just got me really excited to get back to Adelaide and get into things, and I'm so glad we’ve started now.”

Heads on the first three weeks of pre-season 

“There’s a really exciting energy around the group, everyone's really keen to get back into it, like I said, it's a really long off season, so I feel like everyone's really keen at this time of year. We’ve also been able to work o the connection piece, and our on-field chemistry. I feel like that's really important, and we haven't done that for a while, so yeah, it's very exciting.”

Heads on new senior coach Glenn Stratchan and the refreshed coaching group

“It's really cool. I think just learning off him and his experience previously being at Carlton, and obviously working in an AFL environment, is really cool, and having a male coach is also a really cool thing, like you learn differently, and he's helped me a lot because he got a teaching background. He's a very direct coach, and I feel like that's really good amongst the whole group, and everyone's really loving learning off him.”

Heads on what fans can expect from a game style this season

“We were very offensive team last year, and we've worked a lot on that, and I think Glenn really brings that defensive side of things, having experience as a defensive coach previously at Carlton, so it's really cool to sort of integrate that into our game plan and learn off him and sort of get the balance between both this year.”

Heads on spending the day in schools in the Riverland at the annual AFLW community camp

“It's so cool. I'm actually really new to the Empowered program, so I've started doing that this year, and going out to schools during the off-season and now the pre-season, but it's really great to deliver that to year 10 girls and get them to understand gender stereotypes and what constitutes violent behaviour. It’s been great to learn off Boagy (Ella Boag) and Borgy (Amelie Borg), and a few of the girls that have done it for a while is really cool, and I love just going out into the community and helping them and having that connection with community.”

Heads on the importance of visual pathways for young female students

“It’s so important. I mean for me growing up, I never really played footy till I was 15, because I never had people to look up to, so I was always playing netball and other sports where there were other female athletes I could look up to. So, it's so cool having girls playing Auskick, and they're able to ask questions and come kick a footy with us, and just, yeah, soak it up and be able to look up to something that I never had that. And I'm so glad that we can give that back to the girls now.”

Heads on what to expect from pre-season camp

“We’ve got a big training day on Friday, which will be cool. I think we've got a few connection-based activities, which will be awesome. But I feel like that's the important thing of camp - we all just want to build on our connection piece. Being away together is a really cool thing, because we can spend time with each other, and get to know each other, especially new teammates and new coaches, so it's a really cool bonding experience.”