Territory football’s most successful women’s coach calls time on her Waratah career

EIGHT-TIME Waratah women’s premiership coach Colleen Gwynne has called time on her playing and coaching career.

Those were the days: Colleen Gwynne with Tahs captain Lisa Roberts and Southern Districts counterparts Lateesha Jeffrey and Tarmon Elliott in the lead-up to her last grand final. Picture: Justin Kennedy

EIGHT-TIME Waratah women’s premiership coach Colleen Gwynne has called time on her illustrious playing and coaching career.

Gwynne told the club this week she had decided the time was right for her to step down and hand the coaching reins to a new person.

Last week’s 18-point win over grand final rookies Southern Districts was the ideal way to go out when her players presented her with an eight premiership medallion.

Three flags as a player at St Mary’s and another one as an assistant coach at an AFLW club Adelaide means Gwynne’s trophy cabinet is full.

But her legacy in women’s football stretches much further than material success and how many accolades she received over a dozen years from the mid noughties

“I’d like to think I’ve left a positive impact on the game,’’ Gwynne told the Sunday Territorian. “And I’m talking about club level where I hope there is platform in place for Waratah to continue on with its success.’’

Gwynne also hopes the women’s game is now more structured and thought out than its formative years when numbers around the ball was the main priority for coaches.

“My strengths are structures and planning to counteract the opposition, something I’ve always put a lot of time into,’’ she said.

“But I also believe the girls have got to be skilled, there are still too many players in the game who need to work on their basic skills.

“And we’ve got to take the players back to basics in terms of the fundamentals of the game and get them right.

“But while I’m stepping away from football at this moment in time, my love of the game will remain forever.’’