Forward July 2020 | Page 38

OLD GUILDFORDIANS ‘Resilience’ earns Cooper AFLW Coach of the Year Trent Cooper (Wb 1986-1990) As senior coach, Trent Cooper (Wb 1986- 1990) knew in 2019 that his Fremantle Dockers AFLW team was strong, having shown flashes of absolute brilliance at times. With six wins and one loss by the end of the regular season, they came oh so close to topping Conference A, only giving way to the Adelaide Crows based on percentage. Finals loomed and expectations were high, unfortunately the team did have a weakness and capitulated under pressure at critical moments. The preliminary final saw this flaw exposed and Carlton schooled Fremantle with a 64 to 28 shellacking, knocking them out of the competition. Still smarting from defeat, Trent and the team needed to find that little bit extra for the 2020 season. ‘Resilience’ became the team’s mantra, the determination to fight it out until the bitter end, no matter what was on the scoreboard. The players’ leadership group focused on working hard to be unselfish, thinking of their team members before thinking of themselves. The game style shifted to become more attacking and aggressive. These changes paid dividends and the team finished the regular season undefeated in all games, including some absolute nail-biters where the squad fought from behind to overcome Collingwood and St Kilda. Unlike 2019, the Fremantle juggernaut continued on in the Semi Final, obliterating the Gold Coast Suns 80 to 10. Grand Final glory seemed a genuine possibility, however, COVID-19 dealt a cruel blow and the final series ended abruptly. Naturally Trent so desperately wanted a Grand Final win, however, as some consolation, the team’s performance did draw attention and Trent was selected by his peers as the 2020 AFL Coaches Association AFLW Senior Coach of the Year. In selecting the recipient, all AFLW senior coaches voted, taking into account each team’s performance, available resources, player talent and team management. Trent, while immensely honoured, was humble and made it clear he shares this accolade with the entire coaching staff. Surprisingly Trent has not always wanted to be a coach. Footy has always been in his blood though having played for Swan Districts as a Colt and then in the Reserves from 1992-1996, switching to Peel Thunder in 1997-1998 for his opportunity to play Trent Cooper in action as Senior Coach for the Fremantle Dockers AFLW side. League, before returning to the Swan’s League side in 1999. Despite his playing career, it looked as though Trent’s career path was in Education. He started at Wesley College as a Mathematics Teacher in 1995, later becoming a Head of House. It was while he was at Wesley that he got a taste for coaching and developing football programs, starting with coaching teams like the 8A, 9A and 10A teams while in his early 20’s. This led him to coach the 1st XVIII side from 2000-2001 and to become the Director of Football. It was a good program to learn from and in his time at Wesley he had some impressive footballers come through the system, such as Buddy Franklin (who was also in his house when he was House Master), Mark Coughlan and Scott Stevens. Trent developed a taste for coaching and he discovered he was rather good at it. Of the eight seasons he coached at Curtin Uni Wesley Amateur Football Club between 2001 and 2012, Trent’s teams won two premierships and were runners-up three times. He then returned to Swan Districts as a Senior Assistant Coach from 2012-2016 and coached the Colts from 2014-2016. His Colts side won the Premiership in 2014 and Trent received the honour of WAFL Colts Coach of the Year, and the team made the Grand Final again in 2015. In 2017, Trent was the A Grade Coach at Curtin Uni Wesley, as well as the Women’s State 18’s Head Coach and West Australian Football Commission Female High Performance Coach. Landing the Fremantle Dockers AFLW senior coaching role was a personal milestone for Trent. He loves the culture at Fremantle and feels the club has been extremely supportive. Critically the team members feel valued and this positive culture goes right to the top with the President saying he would, “die in a ditch” before allowing the AFLW to get cut. Trent is a family man and he and his wife, Josephine, have a three-year-old son, Peyton, and a one-year-old daughter, Allegra. While he was already supportive of the School’s decision to go co-ed, Trent feels there are parallels with the AFLW now that women can play a traditionally male-only sport. Trent believes that this progress in professional sport plays a vital role in showcasing a more balanced existence to society. To elaborate his point, Trent shares an interesting example of his son. Peyton’s exposure to female football has been more than most, including sharing victory dances in the changerooms. In Peyton’s world, females in football is the norm, not men, so much so for little Peyton that when asked by dad if he would play football, Peyton innocently said he would play basketball as football was “for girls”, because that is what he has seen. Trent will work on that opinion in the future by balancing Peyton’s exposure to both the male and female versions of the game. At the risk of sounding grandiose, Trent believes the AFLW’s part in promoting equality is important. For the reason why, Trent looks no further than his son and his daughter as he wishes to raise them both in a world free of sporting stereotypes, where the boundary is marked by a white line, not by a person’s gender. 38