Andrew Stevens has been appointed coach of the club's senior women's side for the AWFA 2021 season.

The Patties' stalwart has played more than 300 senior games and has had previous coaching experience with the division one men and reserve teams.

It will be Stevens' first role as a non-playing coach and he's excited to keep the momentum going with the reigning league champions.

"It's not a bad side to take over. Josh (O'Farrell) did an amazing job with them over the years and stepped away and Brett Easton was going to coach, but other commitments got in the way," Stevens said.

"We had a discussion and I said I was happy to take it on.

"I'll try to carry on what Josh has done with the girls the last few years.

"I know most of the girls pretty well and I won't be trying to reinvent anything they've been doing because obviously it's been working.

"I'll have some thoughts and things I'll tinker with, but it will be using the strengths they've had which has obviously worked and we'll look to continue that."

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Stevens said he had a desire to return to coaching and was grateful when the opportunity came up to lead a talented side that went all the way to the 2019 AWFA cup final after it claimed league spoils.

"It's something I've always enjoyed," he said.

"But the years of coaching I did, if you include the reserve men, I was playing as well.

"I found it quite difficult to balance my own game and coach at the same time.

"Having a team I don't have to play in allows me to focus on the coaching full-time, which is something I was really keen to do and really looking forward to.

"They're a great bunch of girls and it's a pretty good team to be looking after with the success they're coming from.

"I just want to keep the girls motivated to get back there and go one better."

Stevens is set to continue his senior playing career under Javi Martinez and is confident he will be able to balance it with his coaching commitments.

"I think a lot of other coaches and players are doing similar things and it's the way a lot of clubs work," he said.

"It shouldn't be too bad, there's enough of a gap between the women's game and the men's for me to be able to do that.

"There's been some logistics over the years where the women's draw has been run differently to the men's, so there could be times where we're playing at different locations, but we'll sort that out as it comes."

Due to the late appointment, Stevens only had his first session with the group this week, but said the players have kept quite fit.