The GIANTS congratulate Alan McConnell on winning the 2022 Neale Daniher AFL Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

McConnell was the GIANTS’ first-ever employee, having joined the club in 2009, and held numerous coaching roles within the GIANTS’ AFL program, before taking over as AFLW Head Coach, a position he held from 2018-2022.

Over five seasons, McConnell led Sydney’s inaugural AFLW team to its first finals appearance, in 2020, while successfully steering the program through two extremely challenging COVID-impacted seasons.

On Tuesday night at the 2022 AFL Coaches Association Awards, McConnell was rewarded for his outstanding contribution to the game of Australian Football as a player, coach, and administrator.

Former Head Coach Leon Cameron, Chief Executive Officer David Matthews, General Manager of Football Jason McCartney, and AFLW captain Alicia Eva all paid tribute to McConnell’s incredible contribution to football.

“Nothing is ever about Alan, it’s always about the club,” Eva said.

“He worked hard on building great relationships and really got to know his players away from football.

“He’s a man I hold very close to my heart.”

Former Geelong Assistant Coach and Player Development Manager, Ron Watt, also paid tribute to McConnell.

“I think it’s really important for us as an industry, a coaching group to be able to acknowledge the people that have had great impacts on others and Alan is certainly one of them,” he said.

McConnell combined fifteen years of teaching with his professional career, playing thirty-seven games with Footscray in the VFL.

Caretaker Coach at Fitzroy in 1995 and 1996, McConnell was the last coach of the club before it merged with Brisbane at the end of 1996.

McConnell then went to Geelong as a Senior Assistant Coach for seven years before moving to the Australian Institute of Sport as the AFL’s High Performance Coach.

During his time as the National Director of the AFL’s Football Academies, McConnell was awarded the Australia Day Achievement Medal by the Australian Sports Commission.

From there McConnell became the AIS-AFL Academy’s High Performance Coach before taking on the role of High Performance Manager with the GIANTS in 2009.

After working with the forward line in 2013, McConnell became the Director of Coaching under Cameron.

In 2018, McConnell took up the reins as Head Coach of the club's AFL Women's side which he coached until the end of the 2022 season.