Ashley Prescott is a former Australian rules footballer. He played with the Richmond and Fremantle Football Clubs in the Australian Football League between 1993 and 2001, was senior coachof the Claremont Football Club in the West Australian Football League from 2004 to 2007 and is currently an assistant coach with the Gold Coast Football Club in the AFL. Prescott made his debut in 1993 for Richmond, being recruited from Mount Waverley. He struggled to cement a place in the side, only playing 12 games in his first two seasons, but in 1995 he found his spot in the side as a midfield tagger, playing 21 games. He then played every game of the 1996 season until he broke his collarbone in round 16, which sidelined him for the remainder of the year. After returning to the Richmond side in round 3 of the 1997 he played in 41 of Richmonds next 42 games, but at the end of the 1998 season he did not renew his contract and entered the pre-season draft. He was selected by Fremantle with the second selection in the 1999 pre-season draft. His first year with the Dockers saw him place eighth in the 1999 best and fairest and his leadership and experience at the still-young club saw him awarded the best clubman. Hamstring injuries however restricted him to 17 games over the next two seasons and he announced his retirement from AFL football at the end of the 2001 season. He had ambitions to become a leaguecoach and was the Claremont Colts coach in 2002, before returning to WAFL football in 2003 with Claremont, switching from South Fremantle who he had represented in 2000 and 2001 whilst at Fremantle. He then retired from league football at the end of 2003 and was appointed league coach for the 2004 season. He took the Tigers to the grand final in 2004, 2005 and 2007, but was beaten each time. He was appointed the coach of the Western Australian state team in 2007. He was also head of football operations at Clontarf Football Academy. In October 2007 he was announced as an assistant coach to former Richmond teammate and new Essendon coach Matthew Knights. He is the son of David Prescott, who played 13 games for St Kilda in the early 1960s.
