RYAN Davis and Glenn Strachan are two of the five first-time AFLW coaches to be appointed ahead of the 2026 NAB AFLW season.

The Adelaide and Port Adelaide leaders, both 36 years old, have taken divergent paths to the top, but both had an early love for development and helping teammates.

Davis' football journey has taken him around the country. Born in Sydney, he was picked up by West Coast as a rookie ahead of the 2008 season, playing 14 games for the Eagles over two years.

He joined WAFL club Swan Districts, before making an extraordinary return to the AFL six years after he was delisted, signed to Gold Coast as a rookie, where he added a further 17 games over two seasons.

From there, then-NEAFL club Southport came calling, and his coaching journey – fostered as a former AFL player returning to Swan Districts – began in earnest.

"I was playing-coach for the backline at Southport for a couple of years, won a flag, lost a flag, and then Southport decided they were going to enter the women's competition. I had been talking about whether to continue line coaching, and the advice was if I wanted to develop, I needed to have coached my own team," Davis told AFL.com.au.

"We had some good years (with the women's team), back-to-back premiers and then lost the third flag in extra time. I had a year off where my wife and a friend and I opened a BFT (gym), and then a position at Brisbane opened up.

"I was there for a few years, then at the end of last year, Adam Kelly (CEO) at the Crows reached out, which started the process here."

The Adelaide job made vacant by the departing Matthew Clarke was arguably the most attractive position to have been offered in the AFLW, with a ready-made and experienced list which still has plenty of Grand Final experience.

"As a student of the game, I think football is football. I just love coaching, and I love seeing development in players and light bulb moments when they start to have belief in themselves. It doesn't matter if I'm coaching women or men, I just love coaching football in general. But the vibe in women's is great, the players are fantastic and have such a willingness to learn," Davis said.

"The list profile is very strong. They had a lot of players who missed big chunks of the year. I think by their own admission, they weren't going as great as they would have liked. They've got a lot of players in the right age bracket with the right amount of hardened finals experience. We've been able to trade for top new draftees and Grace Egan, who can all have immediate impact.

"Every single playing group or coaching group that comes in, their job is to really try to build on what the predecessors have done, and that's exactly what this playing group is going to be endeavouring for. I don't think it's going to be a rebuild at all, it's a reset. 

"There's a lot of key players who were down (last year) by their own admission. We haven't had this many top-end picks before, because it has been such a successful program. Being able to leverage those early picks with some players who had down years, whose pride will fuel the fire of getting ourselves back up the ladder as quickly as we can."

Davis is reuniting with former Brisbane head of footy Bree Brock, who has also made the move to Adelaide over the off-season to take up the equivalent role.

"Bree is a fantastic operator, and I loved coaching with her, and it's a pretty important relationship to have, especially for a first-year coach," he said.

"To have 'Breeza' come in and be on the same page at a new club is pretty cool, but it's also extremely beneficial to make sure everyone's on the same page.

Strachan grew up playing local footy in the outer east of Melbourne with Norwood and South Croydon, before graduating to the VFL with Collingwood, Carlton and the Northern Bullants. 

Then-Carlton coach Luke Power encouraged the high school PE teacher to lend a hand at Carlton VFL, and one thing led to another, with Strachan eventually crossing to the AFLW Blues as Mathew Buck's senior assistant and VFLW head coach.

Strachan had come close to landing the vacant Sydney position, which ultimately went to Colin O'Riordan, and so was already open to an interstate move to further his coaching journey.

When Lauren Arnell stepped down from Port Adelaide, it was an easy decision to throw his hat into the ring.

"It's a super talented list, which is clearly a big draw card," Strachan said.

"I think they've got room in their program to develop – they're only in year five, whereas Carlton is in year 11. I like the idea of taking on a program which is a little bit newer, but at the same time, has the foundations of a good club in Port Adelaide behind them.

"For my own development, I felt like it was the right time. I'd been working with Matty Buck pretty closely for four years (both in the VFL and AFLW), and I knew that this was the path I wanted to go down. I learned so much by going through the Sydney process, and missing out reaffirmed I wanted the senior job.

"(Wife) Connor is an athlete (800m runner), which makes things easier because she understands how sport works and how it's not always where you live. She competes on a national stage, so she gets it."

Like Port Adelaide in 2024, Carlton completed an astonishing rise last year to a preliminary final, driven by youthful exuberance and a game plan that finally "clicked" into place.

Both teams are known for their energy and slightly unorthodox nature (which in the somewhat traditional world of football, can be as basic as a love of dancing), which can be a double-edged sword.

"They still seem quite young and excitable, which is great for me, because coming in with some fresh ideas, you just feel they're going to jump, which is cool. There's a lot of energy there, and sometimes I think that gets misconstrued, but they're just excited by where they are as a group," Strachan said.

"The 2024 season was crazy for them, making a prelim only to be beaten by North Melbourne, but it showed them they're on the right track. Me coming in, it's just a bit of a fresh start, we can try something a little bit different and see where we end up.

"As a teacher, women's football isn't overly new to me, I'm used to teaching skills to both boys and girls. Last year was just so much fun, even Aasta (O'Connor) and I, who were known for being the 'grumpy' coaches, had a smile on our faces.

"It's pretty similar vibes with the Power girls. They got pretty close (to finals) last year, and I think that's a big driving force of where they're at now, they're ready to get into it."