Club Announcement - Senior Coach Appointment

The Sherwood Football Club Board of Directors are delighted to announce the appointment of Adrian Fletcher as Senior Coach for the 2021 QAFL Season and beyond.

The independent coaching recruitment and selection panel ran a strong process, and there were several outstanding applicants.

Adrian brings with him 30+ years of vast football experience both as player and coach throughout Australia at both the elite level, but also importantly in several talent ID and development programs in multiple states.

After a decorated playing career in the VFL/AFL including 231 games across 4 clubs including an AFL Club Best & Fairest and holding the captaincy of Fremantle Dockers for 2 seasons, he made the move into coaching at Collingwood as a Development Coach in 2002-2003.

Adrian then moved to Geelong Cats Football Club for 2 seasons, responsible for opposition analysis and player development before then returning to Collingwood for 3 seasons as the line coach for the Collingwood midfield.

During this time, Collingwood and Geelong contested multiple Grand Finals and Preliminary Finals at AFL level, with Fletcher as a key member of the coaching and player development structure.

In 2008, Adrian then moved to the Brisbane Lions where he was involved for 6 seasons in various coaching roles including (but not limited to) Line Coach (Midfield and Forwards), Strategy Coach (Midfield and Forwards), Opposition Analysis, Training Coordinator and Stand in Senior Coach,

Upon leaving the elite AFL coaching environment, Adrian then moved into a role with AFL Queensland and the AFL as High Performance Coach looking after QLD U16s and u18 Allies as Coach and overseeing the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns Academy Programs. During this time, 26 players coached and developed in programs designed and run by Adrian were drafted to AFL clubs, with 22 of them now having made a Senior AFL debut.

The coaching selection panel identified Adrian’s key skills as identification, recruitment, development and retention of players through a learning and decision making environment as a key factor in his appointment as Senior Coach at Sherwood. His ability to demand a culture of work ethic to achieve excellence, with all players judged on performance related actions and given individual feedback to make them the best player they can be within a team environment will be key to the development of Sherwood’s young playing list.

Given the Sherwood Senior QAFL Squad profile includes 75% of players aged 17-21, the extensive experience at both AFL level, but also overseeing talent development programs specifically for this demographic of player is a key driver in the appointment of Adrian Fletcher as the new Senior Coach for Sherwood Football Club.

We welcome Adrian to the Magpies and look forward to kickstarting the 2021 pre-season under his guidance.