Ryan Davis (left) and Glenn Strachan. Pictures: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
AFL.com.au spoke to two of South Australia’s newest residents \u2013 Adelaide coach Ryan Davis and Port Adelaide coach Glenn Strachan \u2013 about their respective new roles, and learnt a lot about how they’re finding life in the city of churches in the process.<\/p>\n
So ahead of a footy-focused chat with the pair, we took a look at what drew them to the South Australian capital.<\/p>\n
THEY’RE the new men in town.<\/p>\n
Adelaide has appointed Ryan Davis (most recently of Queensland, but born in Sydney) and Port Adelaide has brought in Glenn Strachan (Melbourne born and bred) as their new AFLW senior coaches.<\/p>\n
Not only do the pair \u2013 both of whom are 36 years old with a baby daughter \u2013 have to adjust to life as being the men in charge of an elite team, they’re also needing to settle into life in a new state.<\/p>\n
Knowing exactly what it’s like to be a fresh face in a new city, experienced Adelaide winger Niamh Kelly took it upon herself to give Davis \u2013 as well as the club’s new AFLW players \u2013 a go-to guide to the region.<\/p>\n
Chloe Bown (left) is presented with her guernsey by Ryan Davis at the 2025 Telstra AFLW Draft on December 15, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
“The move has been very good. We had a great little spot in Burleigh on the Gold Coast, but the triple threat of Adelaide \u2013 the wineries and hills, the arts and the coastline, it’s really, really nice,” Davis said.<\/p>\n
“It was a tough decision in the end, we have a baby daughter, Margo, who’s now 11 months \u2013 and it was a really good opportunity down here in Adelaide, a very good list, and my wife Lauren has been extremely supportive of my football and coaching journeys.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’re now down in Brighton, and loving where we’re at. It’s been beautiful.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t gone into town much yet given we’re out on the coast, but we went in for the Fringe Festival and museums \u2013 we’re just 30 minutes from a big city, 30 minutes from the country, 30 minutes from empty beaches.<\/p>\n
“Niamh Kelly sent through an expansive and expensive list of things to do and see and places to go for the new players, and I was able to get on that message train as well. Every chance we’ve got, Lauren, Margot and I get down the coast or go inland to get a feel for Adelaide, and we’re really enjoying it.”<\/p>\n
Strachan has a very different situation, currently spending a few days per week at Alberton and a few from home in Melbourne’s outer-east with wife Connor and weeks-old baby daughter Isla, who was born just hours after he accepted the Power job in mid-March.<\/p>\n
The family will permanently relocate in a few weeks, having recently found a house in Adelaide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carlton VFLW coach Glenn Strachan poses for a photo at the VFLW season launch on March 12, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Already quite familiar with the Yarra Valley given its proximity to where he grew up in Croydon, Strachan are looking forward to exploring the South Australian version.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited for the beaches and the wineries, which I’m sure is quite a popular answer. I’ve been to Adelaide a little bit, mostly for football, but a little bit for travel. We were in Robe, the beaches in that area, went to a really cool place called Cactus Beach. Connor and I are really big adventure people, so anywhere we can get out and see Adelaide, we’ll be doing that. Clearly, the Barossa, McLaren Vale \u2013 haven’t spent enough time there yet, but looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
“What I like about Adelaide so far is the pace of it, still has all of the drawcards of a major city, but probably a little bit slower than Melbourne \u2013 there’s a running joke that everywhere’s 15 minutes, which is great, because in Melbourne, 15 can turn into 50 very quickly. Melbourne’s always home, but this adventure is going to be really cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Dan Merrett and Rach Sporn \u2013 who are very good, long-serving football people \u2013 have been fantastic at making me feel welcome. Kirsty Lamb picked me up from the airport one day, which was very generous of her.<\/p>\n
“It feels like all the girls are obsessed with Isla already, they’re always asking for photos. It’s probably why I haven’t minded going over and coming back, it’s just great to see them all and get to know them and their story.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Davis (left) and Glenn Strachan. Pictures: AFL Photos AFL.com.au spoke to two of South Australia’s newest residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,83],"class_list":["post-596488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}