Harf returns to the VAFA as Big V Senior coaches confirmed

The VAFA is delighted to announce the return of St Kevin’s premiership coach & AFL/AFLW identity DANIEL HARFORD as the Big V’s Senior Men’s coach in 2025.

Harford grew up a passionate VAFA supporter via his love for Old Paradians.

“I grew up watching the Ammos,” Harford reflects.

“I’d go and watch Parade play up at the Garvey Oval and I lived for that weekend because it was just up the road from home. And I’d go and sniff the liniment and all that sort of stuff, and you’re right up close at the quarter-time and half-time break. So I loved it. I’ve had a great passion for the Ammos for a long time.”

Following his 162-game AFL career at Hawthorn and Carlton, Daniel pulled on the boots with Paradians for a season, then continued his VAFA connection by joining St Kevin’s as Senior Coach in 2012.

He spent five years at the helm, leading SKOB to the 2015 Premier B flag and playing a critical role in laying the foundation for the club’s sustained success.

Harford was appointed Big V Women’s coach in early 2020 before the season was cancelled due to COVID, and he told the VAFA’s FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME podcast that he’s delighted to be back in the fold once again.

“It’s incredibly humbling and I’m really excited about it. It is a tremendous honour,” said Harford.

“It’s a great competition, the Ammos. We all love it, and that’s why we are so engaged and involved in it.

“And the Big V is a very special part of the whole process. It doesn’t matter what level of football it is. If you represent your state, it’s a very special thing and I know how loved and dearly held it is within the Ammo community to wear the Big V at all different levels.

“So, I’m incredibly excited and humbled to get the opportunity to lead it in what’s a big year – the hundredth year – and against Perth, who defeated us last year. So, it’s a big year, we’re going to get some revenge and I’m looking forward to it.”

Harford has already been working his VAFA network behind-the-scenes as he begins the all-important scouting and selection process.

“I’m looking forward to getting out amongst it on Saturdays and watching live action. I’ll watch plenty of videos on the replays as well.

“I’ve been doing a little bit of reconnaissance from people in the know in the last couple of weeks, just trying to work out who’s who in the zoo a bit, and they are extremely excited about the level of talent that we can get into the squad and eventually the team.

“So we’re expecting a pretty strong squad, and I know that there’s a bit of a burn in the belly after what happened last year against Perth.”

He also has clear thoughts on the type of team he wants to build.

“My coaching philosophy has always stemmed around being a really skillful, aggressive, attacking team.

“Certainly at representative level, when you’ve got the best of the best you want to see some real flair and excitement, I reckon. ‘Cause more often than not, those players who get to this nomination stage or get to represent the Big V – we know their foundations and fundamentals are really good.

“It’s not about reinventing the wheel with representative footy. You just get your best players doing their job and doing the best that they can in their role through some real excitement and aggression and attacking footy.

“That’s what I want to see from the Big V this year.”

Harford’s personal experiences in rep footy as a player and coach have taught him the significance of fast-tracking cohesion and chemistry in a group.

“It’s the biggest challenge you’ve got, I reckon. So what we’ll have to do early doors is get everyone in and maybe even just take the focus off footy for a bit. But just spend some time together and hang out and learn a bit about each other. I reckon that’s a really powerful thing to do.

“Just get to know each other on a more emotional level as opposed to just being footballers out there doing your thing, which we all know they can do.

“Hang out together and just be humans. And then we’ll work on the footy on the back of that because I reckon if we can get that connection really strong early – and I know there’s a great underlying passion for the Big V which will get everyone sort of going early – if we can really develop that in the first couple of weeks, then I reckon that’ll go a long way to giving a really strong performance on game day.”

AFLW premiership coach PAUL GROVES will lead the Big V Senior Women for a third straight season and is fiercely determined to defend the team’s perfect 5-0 record.

“That’s the plan,” Groves told the FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME podcast.

“Everything I’m looking at and doing… is around keeping the record intact.”

But after scraping home in a 1-point thriller last season in Perth, Groves realises that this year’s challenge will be more difficult than ever.

“They’re very bullish about being able to compete,” Groves said of the Perth Football League.

“If you delve into their social media posts of the coaches’ release the other week, Steph (Walding, Perth Football League Senior Women’s Coach) was saying they know they can compete now.”

Groves fully appreciates the honour involved in leading the Big V at any time, but particularly in its Centenary Year and is delighted to be involved with a competition that has played such a critical part in shaping his football journey across multiple decades as a player and coach.

“I certainly owe the competition a fair bit and when Jase (Reddick, VAFA CEO) rang me a couple of years ago to have a look at it, I sort of jumped at it.

“I want to be involved because I feel like I owe a little bit back to what has really sort of, well, for 20 years now back at St Bede’s in 2004 – sort of created what I’ve been able to do and me as a person as well.”

Like Harford, Groves is delighted with the depth and array of talent available across the competition.

“The nature of these things is that the team does look a little bit different and I am looking at now the girls who just missed last year, like a Katie Hunter-Scott and a Hannah Smith, and these girls that were a part of the squad and just missed selection. I feel like they’ve really developed over the course of a year and are certainly putting their hands up.”

The VAFA Senior teams will then host the Perth Football League in a double-header at Elsternwick Park on Saturday, July 12, before the Big V Premier B-Division 3 Men’s & Under 19s teams head to Bendigo to face the Bendigo FNL on Sunday, July 13.

All matches will be live-streamed.

Big V Centenary weekend will begin with the largest function in VAFA history – the Big V CENTENARY GALA on Thursday, July 10.

This unique event will honour all players who have worn the Big V over the past century, and celebrate the spirit of the Big V. Tickets will go on sale soon.