Port Adelaide AFLW senior coach Lauren Arnell has signed a one-year contract extension, committing to at least five seasons at the helm.
Speaking to portadelaidefc.com.au, Arnell touched on her “absolute whirlwind” journey, her people-first approach to coaching, and plans for growth and connection in 2025.
Arnell on signing a one-year contract extension
“It’s an absolute privilege to be a coach at this football club, and the group that we have is a special group of people - including the coaches and staff that I get to work with. It’s really exciting and also really humbling. When I got here, I didn’t expect that it might go this long. I think a lot of coaches, especially in AFLW, their tenures are short, so to have five years’ security is really exciting and really humbling.”
Arnell on building Port Adelaide’s AFLW program
“It’s been wild. I retired April 2021 and had been teaching for 10 years and coaching for a number of years amongst that. I also worked at the AFL in coach development, so I had some good, healthy experience under my belt, but nothing really matches the actual job. I think I’ve been really fortunate to have strong support around me at the football club to grow as a coach.
It’s just hectic, I think, for anyone - even if you’d done my role before - to come in with a short turnaround as the final expansion team in the competition. It was actually a really crazy time, particularly the first couple of years. So, to then come out of that in the third year, have my daughter Marlie, and now be here about to start our fourth season - it’s been an absolute whirlwind. I’m really fortunate to have the space to grow as a coach and continue to work with the people around me.”
Arnell on the growth of the club’s AFLW program
“I’ve started referring to those that were here in 2022 as our ‘day one-ers’. It’s really not that long ago, but it certainly feels that there’s a really strong connection within the group that have been here since day one, and we can see a growing maturity - not just in the playing group, but the whole program - and that’s really exciting and something special to treasure.
Juzzy (Justine Mules-Robinson) is now captain, and she came across as our second or third ever signing, as a pre-signing. So, it’s certainly been a whirlwind, and we’ve had a lot of special people in and out of our program over that period of time. To now have players who’ve been here as long as I have - it’s only really four years - and to know there’s a really strong future ahead of us with many other young players who’ve come here since, is really exciting.
And I think that the most important part right now is that we can see some real growth and maturity happening with our players, but also within the program.”
Arnell on her people-first coaching philosophy
“It’s hard to put into words. Sometimes you just try and bring a human element, and there needs to be a harder edge at times too. We’re in a high-performance environment, but we also have so many beautiful humans in front of us. So, it’s about balancing the human side of what we do with a need for improvement and high performance in everything that we do. It’s a bit of a tricky balance and a line to step either side of at times.
It’s certainly something I have in mind every day that I arrive at the club. It’s important to coach the human that’s in front of you and help them with areas of growth that you know sometimes they can see, and sometimes they can’t. So, guiding them in the right way is something I’d continue to try and find the right balance with.”
Arnell on the learnings she’s taken from a successful 2024 season
“It’s interesting. I think certainly last year in our third season, we’d played around 35 games as a team, and we’re very conscious that teams like North Melbourne and Brisbane average about 20 games more as a whole group. So, there’s a little bit of doing your time.
And I think the experience we had last year - winning two finals, our first home final at Alberton, and the final against Hawthorn, finding a way to win a game we probably didn’t deserve to win - and then a reality check against the strongest team in the comp, North Melbourne, is hopefully some good understanding of where we sit, and a little bit of doing our time as we build towards sustainable success.”
Arnell on creating pathways for future female players to coach
“It’s an interesting one, and I get asked about it a fair bit. I think the most important thing is that if people - men or women, pregnant or not pregnant - feel they can coach and have the skill set, the passion, and the ambition to do it, I hope I help inspire them and reassure them that they can do it (coach) too.”
Arnell on the side’s loss to Collingwood in the pre-season practice match
“We certainly weren’t pleased with the way we went about it. I think scoreboard is one thing in trial games, as it doesn’t hurt you on a ladder, but our biggest focus this year is how we go about what we do. And I think we saw a contrast between the way we went about our processes and the way we conducted ourselves on-field and during breaks - certainly in that first trial against the Crows, where the scoreboard said we won by two points. And then eight days later, we turn up in a different fashion, with certainly some tricky conditions, and Collingwood looked the team that was far more ready to play.
I think it’s a healthy time of the year to learn some lessons around consistency, and that’s been something we’ve spoken about since November last year when we lost to North Melbourne in that prelim. So, I can see some real positivity, and I’m very optimistic about the harder lessons that we can take out of that second trial.”
Arnell on looking ahead to Round 1
“We’re absolutely looking forward to playing round one against Fremantle, and the group’s been preparing strongly for that game. We’ve got our eyes lowered – round one against Freo and round two against North Melbourne is as far as we’re looking.
They’re two teams that we are yet to beat in this competition, and so that narrows our focus nicely, and we can’t wait to play at Alberton on the 17th of August.”
