Pioneering coach Michelle Cowan wants to follow fellow trailblazer Peta Searle into the AFL but hopes, by that stage, she's not just the second to crack the elite ranks.

The West Australian Football League assistant who is directing Melbourne in the third AFL-sanctioned women's match at the MCG on Sunday, believes the day that females populate a domain that remains almost exclusively male is imminent.

"I hope that I may be the tenth woman involved in an AFL club, and that there are other women assistant coaches getting involved, and clubs are embracing female coaches," said Cowan, who receives regular mentoring from Paul Roos, has had stints entrenched at Melbourne and has previously done match analysis for Geelong.

Cowan is an assistant coach at South Fremantle under Todd Curley. Responsible for the midfield line in the WAFL senior side, and an assistant coach of the reserves team, she was also an off-sider to Curley's predecessor, ex-Fremantle star, Paul Hasleby for three seasons.

She is the head coach of the WA state women's team and will coach Melbourne footy club's women's side for a third time against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

The 12:20pm game between the best female footballers in Australia is the curtain-raiser to the round eight fixture between the same men's sides in what the AFL now sees as a template for the future.

A second women's match between the same clubs will be broadcast live and nationally on the Seven network on August 16 when the Dogs and Dees meet again.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan underlined earlier this month how committed he is to the establishment of a national women's league by 2017.

Now understanding how important it is to the AFL that women are not merely enthusiastic supporters, attendees and viewers of the code, but should have clear and well-supported pathways to play, McLachlan has set a more ambitious target for an AFL-sanctioned women's league than the original 2020 timeline.

"I was a state cricketer, and you had those kinds of opportunities," Cowan said. "So when I looked at playing football I probably put the footy down because there wasn't a pathway.

"What we want is girls picking it up at AusKick and never putting the footy down so that they can continue to play until they put on an AFL jumper.

"We see all the other sports are doing it. Cricket is doing it really well, soccer does it, basketball does it and AFL just has to do it, otherwise women will take up these other sports."

Cowan thinks an AFL women's league might start best as a four-team national competition, then grow to a six-club league with a 12-week competition before a finals series.

As for her AFL coaching ambitions, Cowan said: "I've always set my goals to be the best I can be, at the highest level I can be. But for me it's all about timing.

"I'm a mother, I've got a four-year-old and a six-year-old, and they're certainly priorities for me at the moment. If opportunities were to present, it would certainly have to be the right club that fits with family life … and it would have to be at the right time for family as well."

When she was just 17, Cowan wrote to every AFL club to outline some of her ambitions. She received responses from 14 of the 16 that existed then. In 2000 and 2001 she did match analysis for Geelong in Western Australia; work that was commissioned on a voluntary basis.

Searle, formerly a VFL assistant to ex-AFL coach Gary Ayres, broke ground last year when she was appointed to St Kilda's coaching panel headed by Alan Richardson. Disheartened by repeated knockbacks, she was on the verge of giving up on her long held dream to join the elite ranks before St Kilda hired her as a development coach.

Melbourne v Western Bulldogs 

MCG, Sunday 12:20pm

Live match coverage on afl.com.au from 12:15pm AEST

Curtain raiser to Melbourne v Western Bulldogs (men's match) at 3:20pm

$15 tickets includes entrance to both games. Kids free.

MICHELLE COWAN 

•  WAFL assistant coach (South Fremantle seniors and reserves) since 2012
•  Senior coach WA youth girls team
•  Senior coach Melbourne Football Club women's team (2013, 2014, 2015)
•  WA coach of the year at 2014 Sports Industry Coaches and Officials awards
•  State level cricketer and golfer
•  First woman to coach Australian rules at state level (2004)
•  WA based scout/match analyst for Geelong 2000-01 (voluntary role)