Ahead of Fremantle’s finals campaign kicking off this weekend, coach Lisa Webb sits down with AFL great and The West columnist Danielle Laidley to talk their flag chase, her ambitions, mentors and more.
DL: You finished playing football in 2018, did you think you would end up being the senior coach of your club five years later?
LW: No I didn’t, no I definitely didn’t, I did want to still play, but I had my first son, who’s nine-years-old now and he was born essentially deaf. When I wanted to have another child — I always knew we wanted to have a family — the challenges with that, it was more complicated with IVF and trying to ensure that we had the same kind of gene, because my husband and I both carry it, so I knew it was going to take a little bit longer.
After I had Ollie, I played footy, which I absolutely loved, and I remember coming in and saying I wanted to keep playing, but family is so important to me, I was like I think I’m just, I was 33, so obviously late to doing it. I wanted to have a family, and the doctors said it was going to take a little bit longer than the normal way so to speak.
I said look, I told the football club they would like to to stick around in a coaching capacity, then I could manage being a parent as well. So I went straight into opposition, strategy and back coaching for Fremantle a few years, then my husband got a job in Melbourne, so I thought let’s do it, we thought because the family was of a young age, we thought we would do it.
So I went over there with him and ended up being a midfield coach at the Bulldogs with Marc as well.
DL: During your time at the Bulldogs, when did you think you were ready?
LW: I think I was bursting with so many ideas, there were so many things I wanted to help with, I was managing doing relief teaching, as I was a teacher by trade for 12 years and then I would get to training and wanted to help so many people.
Gabby Newton — who was at the Bulldogs at the same time as me — was one of them, she wasn’t in my line, she had so much energy, I wanted to provide feedback to people like her. Assistant coaching in AFLW is challenging, you come from a full-time job, then squeeze in a couple of hours in the afternoon. I was teaching part-time and managing my son who was two at the time as well.
I said to Nathan Burke, who was coach at the time, I had a bit of extra time to help others, let me know if you want it. Every time I turned up, I was so excited, Gabby is a prime example of players who would come up and ask for extra advice and I thought you know what, maybe I do go for a full-time coaching role, have aspirations to keep getting better and continuing to want to lead my own team.
And while I thought I was ready, it was Fremantle’s willingness to put faith in me, to say we think your ready. I went through a really thorough interview process, the further I got through, I thought gee, I had more experience than I probably knew.
It wasn’t always in football, it was also in athletics and teaching and I also had a lot of roles managing people and things like that. Every coach when you kind of come through asks themselves if it’s the right time, but I’m really grateful I did it in the end.
DL: Through all those years of teaching and your own athletic background, how did you develop your philosophies around people and club culture?
LW: It’s a massive thing for me. I think athletics is an individual sport — I know it’s a team at the end of the day, but I was always drawn to people as individuals and making people better.
I know I did that a lot in teaching. Matt Connell, who is one of my assistants at Fremantle now, was someone I worked with for a very long time at Newman College. We started up a women’s footy program at Newman together. I have always had that drive, but it’s based on that connection and fun.
I can be pretty bloody cheeky, I do enjoy my banter and sense of humour, some would say it’s weak, I just throw it out there anyway. I just enjoy that connection with people and buying into that common team goal.
I think that positivity and humour is probably a strength of mine that I am hopefully continuing to develop. It resonates with people, which has been a real factor in my growth.
I’ve always got a willingness to learn from those around me at the club and make those really strong connection with people, creating an environment where they feel care for and loved, but also want to grow because we don’t want to sit around here without winning.
DL: In terms of mentors, who have you taken inspiration from?
LW: My husband Marc should probably get a mention here shouldn’t he. Marc had a really successful career in the WAFL at Subiaco, they won five premierships and he was a big driver of that. Football was my passion and not only did I love watching him play, but it also gave me a chance to study the game.
I never missed a game of his, purely because I really, really enjoyed it. I would ask Marc questions all the time about the game, which probably drove him nuts a bit. I just had a passion to understand a little bit more about it as well.
He’s obviously been a big factor for me. I still continue to bounce things off him and am really lucky to have that, sometimes having that can be challenging, trying to find the right people at the right time, time is so precious for everyone, particularly in the AFL.
My dad is another one, he’s been an athletics coach for 30 years, he’s an incredible coach who is always driven by that hard work and connection is massive for him as well. He has a cheeky sense of humour that gets him through. A lot of his coaching is about hard work, commitment and consistency.
In terms of people at the club — Bob Murphy was massive in shaping my career and giving me the confidence to be able to be myself, then knowing I have the knowledge to impart on the players. He also guided me as that leadership consultant.
Cam Shepherd, the director of coaching here, is awesome, he is so helpful, the beauty about him is he always challenges me. He’s not a yes man, which is great.
I love it when we bounce off each other and have those awkward conversations which are a part of football. That’s been my biggest adjustment, having those conversations, he sees it one way, I see it another, then we talk it through. He’s been a real beauty for me, we’ll talk through it, sometimes he says we will agree to disagree.
DL: After you got the senior job at Fremantle last year, you went four wins and six losses and missed out on finals — what were your learnings post-season, leading into this year?
LW: The biggest learning for me was that we cannot just rely on one or two talented players, we need to rely on our entire list.
We have highly talented and successful players here, I can’t go past Kiara Bowers, she was someone we always relied really heavily on, she set the blueprint for what hard work was We relied on her 18 to 20 tackles per game. We didn’t have her this year and I said something from the get go at pre-season — we are going to rely on the 30 players on the list. We can’t rely on just one or two, in the infancy of the AFLW, there were one or two players holding the team together.
I have worked really hard with the younger players about what it’s like to be professional athlete and had those difficult conversations with them.
One of the other main things I learnt is we had to increase communication — it is a skill, it’s one players must continue to work on, its not a choice, you cant choose to speak on field, its part of your role.
We have quieter players who know what to do, but they feel as though they can’t voice as much. We are only as strong as every single player on our list.
Dana East is an example of that, she’s an absolute weapon who goes hard at the football, but was a quiet, young player coming in, but now she and Mim Strom are calling the shots from the inside midfielders’ perspective, giving feedback to other players.
It doesn’t matter whether you are young, her being say to Turbo (Bowers), Eps (Ebony Antonio) and any of the other older players exactly what they are thinking, directing older players and holding them accountable, that has been huge for us.
I said from the start of pre-season, it’s all well and good that the coaches have an understanding of the game, but we have to judge ourselves on how we shift that knowledge to the players.
It allows them to make in-game decisions about momentum, fast plays and slow plays and that is a far greater tool for us than coaches having the knowledge and using runners.
Empowering our players to make good decisions on field, I think as a coach that is ever evolving. This year, our team have shown they can make good decisions out there. It helps having some recruits with a bit of experience as well and they have complimented the team.
DL: You go 8-3 this year, was that above expectations?
LW: I never really put a ceiling on this group.
What I will say is they were hungry. Honestly I was working here last preseason to April, I was sitting in my office in the middle of January, they hadn’t been finished long and they would come in and say ‘right what are we doing?’
They were just thirsty for information, they wanted to learn, they wanted to grow and it’s not just on the field, they are in my office regularly asking how do I get better at this and we break it down. The thirst for wanting to get better physically on the field and in the gym and in-game education is what led to our better performance.
I have been doing a lot of education in the lecture theatre too, now they have a greater understanding of what we are trying to do, they work closer with line coaches, myself and Cam Sheperd, we are really building a great depth of knowledge in this players so they have the confidence to go there and execute.
DL: You mentioned losing Bowers before the start of the season, then Aine Tighe goes down. How did you dust yourself off? How did you manufacture a rejig of the team, it seemed to me to be smooth sailing?
LW: Yes, that was rough, I think losing Aine and Turbo (Bowers) was challenging at the start, thinking Turbo had gastro, but she said she was pregnant, the little ratbag! I learnt a lot from that.
I didn’t see Aine go down in the game, but she is unbelievably stoic, she’s tough as nails, she doesn’t go down for much. That was a bit of a shock as soon as it happened. She is a very unique player, with incredible speed, agility and strong leadership abilities so it wasn’t easy to replace.
But in saying that, we have been building these girls for a while now, someone else can come in and play the role. And Aine has helped with that, she hasn’t missed a beat the way she’s carried herself, it helps the team and the players. She’s now an extra coach for the players.
DL: This question may be difficult for you to answer. I’ve watched AFL/AFLW football, I’m intrigued by your coaching style, your ability to throw players around, put an old school tag on. I think your one of the better strategists in the competition. How have you got to that?
LW: Part of that is certainly player mentality. When doing things like putting a tag on, you need a player willing to do the role and sacrifice their own game, that’s the all in the mentality, which is our theme for this year.
I honestly don’t care if you get one or two possessions, as long as you can execute your role. It’s about willingness to accept a role. Jae Flynn was one of those players who played at half-back, then found herself playing as a defensive forward. Charlotte Thomas, from the Eagles, carved us in pre-season games and we learnt a lot form that.
It also goes down to player development, in the pre-season we told players if you weren’t selected work on other roles for yourself.
Aside from that, I do watch a lot of footy, I like to research things like heights, weights and match ups.
I’m nowhere near the finished product as a coach. I think there is so much knowledge in what I have done in athletics and football, to teaching, then other sports in which I just want to continue to learn and I think the strategy side of things is what I have done since I have started.
I’d watch the different trends in the game, watch opposition games before. I use others to bounce things off, I’m in a unique situation in the inner sanctum to see what these players are capable of. I’m not going to make all the right calls, I will listen to others, but at the end of the day I will sit with my decisions too.
DL: You’re going to the finals, you can say the F-word now. How are you feeling?
LW: I’m actually really excited, especially coming off a win over the Bulldogs.
We are playing Essendon, so I went back and watched the round one game versus Essendon. Far out, I wouldn’t say we are a different team, but we are far more connected than what we were in round one of the season.
We had players like Gabby Newton with an interrupted pre-season, along with three new players in and I believe we are a far better team now, but you don’t have to be off much, be off by a couple of percent and we will get hurt, that’s an important message to our girls.
Essendon are a terrific team and really well coached by Natalie Wood, she’s a real strategist of the game, no doubt they will pull some surprises.
We need to get the right balance of what we can control this week. I not nervous yet, I do get a bit nervous. But I guess for me its making sure our girls are as prepared as they can be.
We have worked really hard to get back where we think we belong, I want them to enjoy it as well. I’m so happy for players like Aisling McCarthy, who have played nine seasons and never been in one finals match.