The wins keep coming for Bond University Bull Sharks QAFLW program.
Still riding a 2026 QAFLW Premiership high, the club has just announced another win with QAFLW coaching duo Chanel Fletcher and Jess Sherlock signing on for 2027.
Fletcher coached the Broadbeach Cats QAFLW Reserves last season after a stint as an assistant at the Coorparoo Kings. She's also a Gold Coast Suns Academy U18's assistant coach.
Sherlock - an assistant at Broadbeach last season - teaches at Gold Coast AFL nursery Palm Beach Currumbin High School.
“It’s a fantastic chance to grow in a high-performance environment and put my developing coaching skills into action and to take next steps,” Fletcher said.
Sherlock, relatively new to coaching, emphasised the importance of being supported while learning.
“This is only my second year of coaching so this is really exciting opportunity to take in all I can in an elite program that nurtures up and coming female coaches,” she said.
Bond's Director of Football, Andy Lovell, said the arrival of the well-regarded pair at The Canal is due to a combination of necessity and good timing.
"Chanel and Jess were looking for an opportunity to progress their coaching, and for really valid reasons we are delighted to be able to provide one,” he said.
"Both bring really important junior talent pathway experience to our program, too."
Lovell says bolstering the club's QAFLW coaching stocks has been on the agenda for a while.
"We've been keen to inject more female coaching talent into our program,” he said.
"Tara Dutton has done a terrific job with our QAFLW Reserves, but it's so important that we foster more opportunities for young, capable female coaches at this level."
It's still a few a few months out from pre-season, but it's not only new coaches capturing Lovell's attention.
He's keeping a keen eye out for top up talent of the playing variety too.
"I'm a realist," Lovell says.
"A premiership delivers a lot of attention, and that means some of our players will be looked at ahead of December's AFLW Draft.
"VFLW clubs are also always casting an eye north to supplement their playing lists."
"And being a club connected to a university means players finish degrees and move on to new phases in their lives."
"So, strengthening our coaching group in the right way helps us appeal to a new influx of players."