Adelaide has welcomed former AFL footballer Jarryd Lyons to its AFLW coaching panel for the 2026 season.
The 33-year-old has joined as a specialist coach, where he will work alongside Head Coach Ryan Davis.
Assistant coaches returning for this season are two-time AFLW premiership winner Courtney Cramey, who will take control of the backline; fellow premiership player Marijana Randall, who will look after the forward line; and former Crows AFL ruck Kieran Strachan, who will coach the midfield group.
Sports psychologist Dr Matt Condie has also joined the coaching panel as the side’s mental performance coach, while Emma Sampson returns as the development and scrimmage coach, looking after non-selected AFLW players each week in AFL-run scrimmage matches.
Lyons played 194 games across a 13-season career that started when he debuted for the Crows in 2012.
He played 55 games for Adelaide from 2012-2016, before moving to Gold Coast where he played 37 games between 2017 and 2018, finishing his career at Brisbane where he played another 102 games, retiring in 2024.
Executive General Manager AFLW Bree Brock said the Club was thrilled to welcome Lyons to the program following a sustained AFL career.
“Jarryd brings extensive experience across multiple high-performance environments,” she said.
“He has a deep understanding of elite standards, midfield craft and the demands of sustained performance, with a strong focus on professionalism, consistency and supporting the development of emerging athletes within a high-performance environment.
“This is a skill set that will also compliment that of our head coach Ryan Davis bringing fresh eyes to the program.”
The AFLW squad this week returned to West Lakes for the first week of pre-season, hitting the track on Tuesday for its first official training session, ahead of the season starting in August.
Davis said he was pleased to assemble a multi-disciplinary coaching panel that brought with it extensive experience at both AFL and AFLW level.
“We’re pleased to welcome Jarryd and Matt into the coaching panel, and I’m looking forward to working with Courtney and MJ who are both AFLW premiership players and have been involved on the coaching panel for a number of years now,” he said.
“We’re also excited to have Strachanie back for his second season with the program in an expanded role that will see him look after our midfield as well as the rucks.
“We have a huge opportunity in front of us this pre-season with new players, new energy and new people and we can’t wait to see what we can do."
