Adam Dowie, Chris McLaren praise new Carlton AFL Women's coach Mat Buck's ability to lead

Buck, who was senior coach at South Warrnambool for three seasons and a premiership player at Terang Mortlake, takes over the top job from Daniel Harford.

The 38-year-old is the second coach out of the south-west to join AFL Women's head coaching ranks, after Warrnambool-raised Nat Wood was appointed Essendon's inaugural coach last year. North Warrnambool Eagles coach Adam Dowie, who taught Buck at school, coached him as a player, and brought Buck in as an assistant coach at Koroit, was thrilled to see his friend earn his latest opportunity.

Dowie remembers a conversation with past Koroit leader Isaac Templeton which illuminated Buck's pedigree to be a senior coach. With the leadership group initially wary of Buck, who had a reputation of being a pest of a player, he soon endeared himself to Templeton and the rest of the team.

"I reckon Bucky had been there about three months, and just been super impressive just with his knowledge of the game, ability to be able to teach the game and ability to be able to form great relationships," Dowie said. "Tempy... he said to me, 'hey Wiggsy, don't stuff up, this bloke's a gun and he's ready to go as a senior coach'."

Koroit senior coach Chris McLaren praised Buck for his bravery in pursuing an elite level coaching career.

"He's made no secret of his want to develop and improve and go up the ladder with his coaching," McLaren said. "It's a really brave move, he's essentially sold his house down here, packed up his young family and moved down to Geelong to get access into Melbourne. Basically on no guarantees, not a job that was paying many bills with his role initially, to be able to get in there and obviously do a really good job. Not many people do that, so hats off to him."

Dowie praised Buck's wife Rachael, a school principal, for her own commitment to her husband's coaching journey.

"Rachael and his family, they've been unbelievably supportive," Dowie said. "When he took over at South Warrnambool and when they moved... and he started at Werribee and was travelling, without Rachael it would have been really difficult."

Dowie said Buck's game-day coaching style was one of his strengths.

"For me, I feel like I'm a good coach Monday to Friday," he said. "But Bucky, he was really good Monday to Friday and then Saturday was probably even better.

"Just his ability to see the game and get his head around concepts.

"The further he got, the more he wanted to know.

"If you had to tick all the boxes in terms of what's going to make a really good coach, he just about ticks them all.

"I'm not surprised he's climbing the ladder."

McLaren said Buck's determination and thirst to get better as a coach stood out the most, with the two men speaking up to three times a week about football. The Carlton coach also joined McLaren on the bench during Koroit's senior premiership win last September.

"I know how appreciative he is of his time at Koroit," McLaren said.

Buck joined Carlton as an assistant coach in 2021, where he worked alongside its former VFL coach and current Warrnambool mentor Dan O'Keefe.

Buck's women's coach role at Carlton will be full-time following a wide-ranging review commissioned by the club after its two-win season in 2022. The Blues are seeking to play their first final series since 2020.

In his first press conference on Tuesday, Buck said he was proud of his football coaching journey and his time at Carlton thus far.

He said an opportunity to work with the Blues' women's players on their skills earlier this year inspired him to put himself forward for the interview process. He said he would focus on driving elite standards within the playing group.

Buck was straight into the job, with an AFL Women's supplementary draft held that night.