South Adelaide women’s coach Krissie Steen and star player Courtney Gum on life on and off the football field

THEY have been partners for almost seven years but now South Adelaide’s women’s coach and star player share another title – Panthers premiership winners.

South Adelaide midfielder Courtney Gum with son Buz and the Panthers’ women’s coach/her partner Krissie Steen at Noarlunga. Picture: AAP/ Keryn Stevens.

• Gum returns from AFLW to South Adelaide
• GWS Giants draft 36-year-old mum
• Ex-Home and Away actress appointed as Panthers coach
• SANFL women’s competition adds new teams

THEY are two of the heroes of South Adelaide Football Club’s first A-grade premiership in 54 years.

But Krissie Steen and Courtney Gum have also found a winning formula at home – as partners for almost seven years and parents to their three-year-old son, Buz.

Steen, 44, coached the Panthers to a five-point grand final victory over Norwood at Unley Oval on Anzac Day to cap the club’s inaugural SANFLW season.

South had been without an A-grade flag since its men’s triumph in 1964.

Gum, 36, just so happened to kick the goal that put the Panthers ahead with less than five minutes remaining in the match after scores were level.

“When Courtney kicked the goal, I ran around with two hands up in the air, which isn’t like me, either,” Steen says.

“But I actually didn’t see her until we were being pulled over for the presentations.

“Up until then, I was dealing with South supporters ... grown men crying saying they had never seen a South premiership in their life.”

The triumph followed an emotional few months for the couple, who maintained a long-distance relationship while Gum was playing for GWS Giants in the AFLW earlier this year.

Gum had almost given up hope that she would ever play at the elite level until Steen pushed her to have another crack, sending videos of her to Giants officials.

GWS drafted Gum in October and she made her long-awaited AFLW debut against Melbourne at Casey Fields in February – with Steen watching in the crowd.

The veteran midfielder became one of the stories of the season when she claimed the AFLW Players’ MVP, an all-Australian cap and was joint runner-up in the league’s best and fairest.

“I just felt so proud of her,” Steen says.

“I cried when I (first) saw her on the field run out in her (GWS) guernsey.”

South Adelaide’s SANFLW team celebrating its inaugural premiership. Picture: Deb Curtis.

Gum says leaving Steen and Buz behind in Adelaide is one of the hardest things she has ever done.

But they FaceTimed twice a day and Steen took Buz to see his mum play against Adelaide in Blacktown.

“There’s one aspect of it (being drafted) where it’s a dream,” Gum says.

“But when you throw into a mix having a partner who coaches SANFL and a three-year-old and a fairly new and establishing business, that’s what made it harder.”

Courtney Gum with her son Buz after the GWS Giants match with Adelaide at Blacktown. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Once the AFLW season ended, Gum returned home to play for the Panthers.

It was the third occasion that Steen had coached her partner, whom she met through football in Sydney.

They say maintaining a professional coach/player relationship is easy and they have complete support from South and their teammates.

“When Courtney got drafted to South, they (the club) came to me and said ‘do you mind if we announce that you’re partners?,” Steen says.

“I said ‘are you sure you want to do that?’

“And they said, ‘it’s 2017 ... it’s nothing for us to keep hidden’.

“I know there’s always going to be comments from people who aren’t that open-minded.

“But if we are not open about it, they will never get used to realising that it’s normal.”

The challenge of juggling a long-distance relationship, raising a child and work – Gum runs a physiotherapy practice and Steen is a carpenter – will continue next year.

Steen is contracted to South for 2019, while Gum will rejoin the Giants.

“It’s really cute though, Buz sees footy as a women’s sport,” Gum says.

“I just can’t imagine that he will ever grow up thinking that AFL is just a men’s sport.”

Courtney Gum kicks the ball during the Giants’ round three clash against at Olympic Park Oval, Melbourne, on February 18. Picture: AAP/Joe Castro.