Daniel Harford says coaching in the AFLW has been a pleasure

While he has no interest at giving the AFL a crack, Daniel Harford loves coaching and getting involved in AFLW has provided him with more enjoyment than he thought possible.

Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford admires the attitude of female players. Picture: Julian Wallace

One thing Daniel Harford sees clearly now is that men reckon they know it all.

Women — his charges at Carlton and the players he tutored at Collingwood the year before, are different.

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“The girls that we’re working with haven’t had people blowing wind up their backsides for the last 15 years of their football career, telling them how good they are,” Harford told the Herald Sun this week.

“They don’t know everything and they’re happy to not know everything.

“They’re sponges that just want to get better and they’ve been given this great opportunity … and they’re having a great time and they’re getting as much out of it as they can. It’s quite exhilarating.”

The blokes aren’t like that?

“Nup,” he said, with a laugh.

“The blokes are a pain in the bum, they think they know everything.”

Harford played 162 AFL games, the last 10 at the Blues in 2004 after nine years at Hawthorn, and then carved a second footy career as a coach in the suburbs, winning flags with Balwyn and St Kevin’s while steadily building his media profile.

Daniel Harford coached the Blues to their first win in 12 months last weekend.

A first-time player-coach at 29 when he led Balwyn to the premiership, Harford was hooked.

“I imagine lots of players go through their careers and think, ‘When I finish, I’m going to try things the way I think it should be done’,” Harford said.

“I was one of those players.

“I thought it was as good a time as any to get into coaching to see if I liked it and I did.”

Four years later he moved to St Kevin’s in the Amateurs where he coached for five years.

A call from Collingwood’s football manager Matthew James after a year out of the coach’s box put women’s football on his radar.

“I thought, well, why not?’ Harford, 41, said.

“It’s a new frontier, it’s coaching, I sort of missed it.

“I did it and I fell in love with the girls in the first couple of weeks, just with their attitude and their want to learn and their thirst for knowledge.

“I was quite captivated by that, the attitude and the environment.”

Now, the morning radio show host on RSN is turning the Blues around as their head coach.

The wooden spooners had their first win in 12 months against GWS on Saturday and are on track for more rewards.

Bri Davey has been leading the way for the Blues. Picture: AAP

They’re a different side to last year.

“My building blocks for the girls was just real fundamental stuff: let’s pick the thing up, let’s handball it to our teammate, let’s kick it to someone wearing our jumper, really simple stuff,” he said of the change.

“It’s just education: repetition, rehearsal, repetition, rehearsal, repetition, review, all those re words.

“And you just bang it into them, but that’s no different to clubs I’ve coached in men’s footy.”

Tactically, he said his game plan doesn’t different much from when he coached men.

“We’re trying to do the same stuff, it’s the same philosophy,” he said.

“We want to score. We want to play a brand of footy that people want to play, that’s my baseline philosophy.”

Harford clearly loves the coaching game but he insists he has no interest at giving the AFL a crack.

“I don’t think if it was a full-time job I would do it because I don’t want to be consumed by football,” he said.

“ … I’m not the personality type for a men’s system. I’m not manic enough, I’m not organised enough, there’s too many things I’m not to be a men’s coach.

“It’s too full on … I like this world, this is a great world.”

COACH HARFORD SINGS THE BLUES

Tayla Harris

“Her contested marking is unbelievable. She’s an amazing athlete. We’ve just got to make sure we can manage her (shoulder) through the year. She’s a pivotal part of the jigsaw.”

Bri Davey

“A terrific athlete (and) she’s got a really good footballer’s brain. She gets the contest. That’s really important for a lot of these girls who haven’t grown up with footy.”

Madi Prespakis

“A ripping kid. She wants to be a really good player and she’s prepared to work for it. But she’s a kid and there will beups and downs with her … but we know we’ve got a serious player on our hands.”

Darcy Vescio

“One of the most underrated players in the competition, I reckon. She’s not a player I don’t think that will go out and kickfour or five (goals) too many weeks, but what she does for her teammates and the way she works that forward line for us as one of the leaders is absolutely amazing. She’s a fantastic person for our footy club.”

Originally published as Daniel Harford says coaching in the AFLW has been a pleasure