National She Can Coach Wrap

The 2025 cohort of the National She Can Coach program has finished for another year, with four WA coaches joining the graduation ceremony online.

The National She Can Coach program, now in its fifth year, provides selected female coaches with the opportunity to network, mentoring opportunities and the platform to develop their coaching skill set.

This year, WA had four participants who were selected after a shortlist was sent to the AFL.

Jayme Harken, Claire Ortlepp, Bec Meirau, and Jess McNaught were selected for the program.

The program consisted of a weekend trip to Melbourne, allowing coaches to connect with their peers from across the country, followed by a series of seminars and leadership courses.

Upon their return to WA, the coaches gained access to an AFLW game day experience.

They were hosted by West Coast at their final home game against Carlton, with the coaches given unprecedented access to the rooms and hearing from coach Daisy Pearce’s pre-game address.

Ortlepp discussed the importance and value of the program.

“I can’t recommend the National She Can Coach course highly enough,” Ortlepp said.

The program was led by Carol Fox and Andi Pert who are both facilitators and executive coaches, with strong backgrounds in female leadership programs.

Fox mainly spoke about confident communication for leaders, while Pert focused on character strengths and reflective practice.

“The topics that Carol and Andi covered were really unique and have had a massive influence on my coaching, as well as being applicable to other aspects of life,” Ortlepp said.

“It was also great to connect with amazing female coaches around the country.

“I learnt a lot from the whole group and I’ve come out of this course feeling like I’m a better coach and will be recommending it to all the female coaches I know.”

WA Football’s Female and Diversity Coach Coordinator, Beatrice Devlyn backed Ortlepp’s assessment.

“While all coaches have differing backgrounds, being able to bring them together to connect is a strong reminder of what can be done when we connect”, Devlyn said.

“With continued growth in women’s coaching, we’ve had a 7 % increase in 2025.

“It’s great to be able to reward some of our coaches with unique opportunities.”

Nominations for the 2026 program can be sent to Devlyn at WA Football.

bdevlyn@wafootball.com.au

2026 Coach renewals are NOW OPEN! Register today!