BRISBANE has appointed former Sunshine Coast Lightning CEO Danielle Smith as its new head of women’s footy.
Smith has a long history in senior sporting roles across the Melbourne Storm in the NRL, AFL club Geelong, while also working on the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and at advisory firm KPMG.
She joined the Sunshine Coast Lightning in 2016 and oversaw back-to-back Super Netball premierships in 2017 and 2018, and was named the QSports sports administrator of the year in 2021.
Stepping into the role that was vacated by long-serving leader Breeanna Brock, who made the decision to move on at the completion of the 2025 AFLW season, she will begin her duties in April ahead of the AFLW’s official preseason start in May.
It is the first significant off-field change for Brisbane, who has maintained its key trio of Brock, head coach Craig Starcevich and high-performance manager Matt Green since it earned an inaugural AFLW license in 2016.
The two-time premiership club has played in seven of the AFLW’s nine Grand Finals across its history, and has missed finals just once.
The appointment follows a host of other clubs making significant off-field changes during the off season, including North Melbourne appointing long-time coach and list manager Rhys Harwood to its head of footy role, Melbourne naming former player Shae Sloane as its interim head of footy, and Richmond appointing Jane Woodlands-Thompson following a review into its AFLW program.
Six clubs will also head into the 2026 AFLW season with a new coach, with Melbourne the only one of those six yet to appoint a replacement after inaugural coach Mick Stinear made the move to Geelong over the summer.