Alan John McConnell (born 30 March 1957) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for Footscray in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) during the early 1980s and later coached Fitzroy. McConnell is currently serving as director of coaching at the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS or Giants) are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney Olympic Park which repres ...

Playing career

Originally from Kolora in the Mount Noorat Football League, Alan played with Terang in the

Hampden Football League The Hampden Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league based in South-Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns along or near the Princes Highway from Camperdown to Portland. The league is a major country ...

, under age football with Fitzroy and

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA) football with Preston,

Footscray

McConnell was a fierce defender at

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in the VFL league and spent three seasons with the club from 1980 until 1982, playing a total of 37 games and kicked 5 goals.

Coaching career

Fitzroy Football Club caretaker senior coach (1995), (1996)

In 1995, he was appointed as the caretaker senior coach of Fitzroy when

Bernie Quinlan Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow ...

was sacked during the season. He again became the caretaker senior coach of Fitzroy, in the following year in the 1996 season for the last eight games when senior coach Michael Nunan stood aside, but he failed to register a win in either season. McConnell then became the last official senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club in the AFL. McConnell left Fitzroy after the 1996 season, when Fitzroy's AFL operations were taken over by the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

to form the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

Geelong Football Club

McConnell then joined

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

as an assistant coach.

Australian Institute of Sport

After leaving Geelong, he became the head AFL coach for the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

GWS Giants

McConnell later became the first appointment to the

as an assistant coach working with the forward line in 2013, McConnell then later became the GWS Director of Coaching under GWS senior coach Leon Cameron. McConnell was appointed the senior coach of the Giants' AFL Women's side in July 2017. Thus becoming the first person to coach both an AFL and AFLW side. In the round three, 2018 match against , McConnell registered his first win in his entire coaching career, having endured eleven losses from as many matches during his two stints as 's caretaker senior coach in 1995 and 1996. On 26 March 2022, it was announced that McConnell would step down from his role as senior coach of the Giants' AFL Women's side at the end of the 2022 season and move into another role within the club. However, on 12 April 2022, McConnell reversed this decision and stepped down early from his role as senior coach GWS AFL Women's side effective immediately and was replaced by Cameron Bernasconi.

Coaching statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2023 season'' , - !scope="col" style="width:4em", Season !scope="col" style="width:12em", Team !scope="col" style="width:4em", League !scope="col" style="width:4em", Games !scope="col" style="width:4em", W !scope="col" style="width:4em", L !scope="col" style="width:4em", D !scope="col" style="width:4em", W % !scope="col" style="width:4em", LP !scope="col" style="width:4em", LT , - ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, , , , AFL , , 3 , , 0 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0.0% , , 16 , , 16 , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , , , AFL , , 8 , , 0 , , 8 , , 0 , , 0.0% , , 16 , , 16 , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , ,

AFLW AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

, , 7 , , 3 , , 3 , , 1 , , 42.9% , , 4 , , 8 , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , ,

, , 7 , , 2 , , 5 , , 0 , , 28.6% , , 3^c/8^o , , 5^c/10^o , - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , , ,

, , 7 , , 4 , , 3 , , 0 , , 57.1% , , 2^c/6^o , , 7^c/14^o , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , ,

, , 9 , , 4 , , 5 , , 0 , , 44.4% , , 9 , , 14 , - , 2022 (S6) , , , ,

, , 10 , , 4 , , 6 , , 0 , , 40.0% , , 9 , , 14 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career !! 51 !! 17 !! 33 !! 1 !! 33.3% !! colspan=2, Notes

References

* *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, Alan 1957 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Western Bulldogs players Northern Bullants players Fitzroy Football Club coaches Greater Western Sydney Giants AFL Women's coaches