Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick said it was a ‘difficult decision’ to not renew Trent Cooper for a sixth season and instead look elsewhere for a new AFLW Senior Coach.
Freo had made four consecutive finals series under Cooper heading into a 12th placed finish in Season 7, where Fremantle had three wins, a draw and six losses.
Garlick said the decision wasn’t made lightly, especially considering Cooper’s contributions to the Club since 2018.
“Trent had made a really significant, important impact on not just the W program but our Club overall,” Garlick told SEN WA.
“This decision isn't about the performance of the past and not just about the Season 7 just gone, but about assessing what we need going into the future.
“Our players, fans and members expect us to do everything we possibly can to position ourselves to contend in both of our programs and that's essentially the genesis of this decision.
“We think it's time for a reset and a refresh in relation to the senior coach and that will give us the best opportunity to succeed.”
Garlick believes Fremantle are capable of returning to finals contention in 2023 with a talented young core emerging to support the Club’s A-grade players, highlighting the likes of Sarah Verrier, Dana East, Amy Franklin and Mikayla Morrison – who missed Season 7 due to an ACL injury.
“We've got a core of significantly talented young players and clearly we have some of the absolute elite players in the competition, the likes of Ebony Antonio, Kiara Bowers and our skipper Hayley Miller," Garlick said.
“All three of them have got some good footy in front of them, so we think we've got the genesis of a really talented group.
“(There’s also) Mim Strom, who's coming up on 40 games of AFLW and she just turned 21 yesterday.
“We’ll continue to add to that, there's some real upside for us and our responsibility is to give our W program the best opportunity to contend on a regular basis.”
