Daniel Harford


Daniel Harford is the senior coach of the Carlton Football Club's in the AFL Women's and a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League. He is also radio presenter and commentator.

AFL career

Originally from Parade College, Harford was a Teal Cup captain of Victoria as a youngster. He played junior football for St Mary's in the DVFL, and was recruited from the Northern U18 team by the Hawthorn Football Club with the 8th overall selection in the 1994 AFL Draft. His career started off beautifully and while at Hawthorn, where he made his debut in 1995, he made an early impression. He was a hard-at-the-ball midfielder or occasionally, small forward. He hit his peak in the late 1990s when he was almost dominant on the field, his aggression and toughness really shining. He also made regular appearances on The Footy Show during this period.
In 2002 Harford's career started to slide when he managed just 11 games. The hard at the ball midfielder started to collect more than his fair share of injuries. He continued to struggle for form and fitness in 2003 where he added only another 5 games. Harford was on a long-term contract and Hawthorn decided to try to offload him, and at the end of the year Carlton decided to give Harford another go, trading pick no 51 for him and Hawthorn paying half his contract. Harford could never capture his 1997–1999 form, deciding during a pre-season run in October 2004 to retire from AFL football.

Post-AFL playing career

Harford played VAFA football for Old Paradians in 2005, and returned to the VFL to play for the Northern Bullants, with whom he had previously played while on the Carlton list. He was consistently one of the best in the Bullants' minor premiership team, winning the Laurie Hill Trophy as the Bullants' best and fairest, and finishing third in the J. J. Liston Trophy count.
In 2007, Harford moved to the Balwyn Football Club in the Eastern Football League. He played there in 2007, served as playing-coach in 2008, and retired from playing at the end of 2008. He continued to serve as non-playing coach at Balwyn until 2011, then as coach at St Kevin's Old Boys in the Victorian Amateur Football Association in 2012, where he still coaches as of 2013.

Coaching career

After serving as an assistant coach with during the 2018 AFL Women's season, he was appointed the senior coach of 's AFLW team in April 2018 for the 2019 season onward.

Media career

Harford, known as a bit of a joker during his playing days, joined fledgling Melbourne sports radio network SEN 1116 in 2005 as a presenter, after his retirement from the AFL and while he was playing in the VAFA. He began by hosting a Sunday afternoon sports show with Robert Shaw, in 2006 he hosted On the Rise, a morning weekend program, with Jason Richardson. He made regular appearances on "The Good Oil", a weekday 12-4 afternoon show, between 2007 and 2009, before taking over the timeslot in 2010 with his own program Harf Time, this ran until 2016, when he moved to the Drive program. He has also been involved in the network's VFL and AFL commentary teams.
In 2007, he hosted a car show on Channel 9, "Test Drive."
In November 2016, Harford resigned from 1116 SEN and will move to RSN 927 to host breakfast.

Personal life

He is married to Rebecca and they have a daughter, Abbey and a son, William.