Trent Aaron Cooper (born 19 June 1974) is a former

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

and coach. Cooper was the senior coach of

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

in the

AFL Women's 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 ...

(AFLW) for five seasons before departing the club in November 2022 after not being offered a new contract.

Playing career

Cooper played in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

for

Peel Thunder The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The ...

in 1997 and 1998, and then for one season with

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

in 1999. Cooper played a total of 16 league games and kicked seven goals over three seasons.

Coaching career

Cooper was announced as Fremantle's coach in June 2018, replacing the Dockers' inaugural AFLW coach, Michelle Cowan. After Fremantle went through the shortened 2020 AFLW season undefeated, Cooper was awarded the

AFL Coaches Association The AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA) is the representative body for Australian Football League coaches. History The AFLCA was founded in 2002, and as of 2015 had 178 members. Every year annually since 2003, the AFLCA has released a set of award ...

Coach of the Year award. In his five seasons in charge, Cooper took Fremantle to the finals on four occasions. He was axed by the club in November 2022 after the conclusion of the AFLW's seventh season. In the days following, Cooper described his departure as an "unpopular decision" and reiterated that he disagreed with the call. Less than a month after leaving Fremantle, Cooper was hired by the

West Australian Football Commission WA Football, formerly the West Australian Football Commission, is the governing body of Australian rules football in the state of Western Australia. The organisation is registered as a not-for-profit association. WA Football assists in adminis ...

in a youth development coaching role.

Personal life

Outside of football, Cooper is a high school maths teacher, having taught at Wesley College and Chisholm Catholic College.

References

External links

Get to know Trent Cooper

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' was an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced be ...

(21 February 2019) Living people 1974 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Swan Districts Football Club players Peel Thunder Football Club players AFL Women's coaches Fremantle Football Club coaches 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1970s-stub