In a beautiful parallel, the stereotype-shattering inception of the NAB AFLW competition almost a decade ago has not only invited young girls into the locker rooms of local football clubs, it has also welcomed capable and passionate women into coaching, women who had previously been over-represented in managerial and training roles but rarely seen as coaches.

Whether the increase of female coaches can be attributed just to the growth of female football or a greater societal shift is not clear, but what is evident is that it is now commonplace to see women in coaching boxes across the country.

The demand for girls teams at all levels has led to a demand for coaches, and as a result, many of these roles are being snatched up by coaching-curious females, despite most having no prior coaching experience.

They are taking the opportunity to develop their skills on the job, in the same way the young women and girls they are mentoring are developing their football skills. There is no such thing as a ready-made AFLW coach, just as there is no such thing as a ready-made AFLW player.

And while the AFLW has been one of the catalysts for this shift in female representation, it sends a broader message that coaching, just like any skill, can be developed regardless of gender, experience, age or ability.

In local leagues, prior to the establishment of female talent pathways and the AFLW, coaching courses were offered to men and women with equal access. But we have we only just seen a record number of women move into the coaching space - both at the top and local levels - since the inception of AFLW.

It could have been that women believed that their lack of playing experience prevented them from having the knowledge required to coach. Most male coaches, no matter the level, played the game themselves and it seemed that no amount of passion or expertise from women could compare with the experience that comes with actually playing the game.

However, as we have seen with Chris Fagan at Brisbane, playing experience at the level is not a prerequisite to being a successful coach. Natalie Wood (Essendon) and Tamara Hyett (Western Bulldogs) – senior AFLW coaches who did not enjoy long playing careers – are further examples of this.

This is also true for Chloe McMillan and Emma Kearney, who are part of the men's coaching groups at Collingwood and North Melbourne, respectively. Kearney has immense playing experience in the AFLW, but neither have experience playing in the standard of the League they are coaching in. Both, however, are highly valued and respected.

Even for coaches who do have vast playing experience, their coaching ability has been developed over a number of years as an addition to their exploits on the field. The journey of Daisy Pearce, who moved from playing into coaching the men's side at Geelong to leading the women's team at West Coast, has been a decades-long endeavour spanning many different levels of football.

What is clear, is that the football IQ of women is finally being recognised and in turn, these women are being given further opportunities to share and develop their knowledge at the highest level.

Most exciting of all, these great football minds are now giving back to the league in which they once played, like most men's AFL coaches have done for decades. Three of the five female head coaches in the AFLW – Pearce, Lauren Arnell (Port Adelaide) and Lisa Webb (Fremantle) – all previously played in the competition.

In the same way that young girls who had a love for football can now see themselves playing at the top level, women who had that same love for coaching now have more opportunity to pursue their passion in environments where they feel comfortable to grow their skills and confidence as coaches. It is the nurturing of these qualities and a commitment to learning the game that differentiates quality coaches from poor ones, not gender.