CATS FIRST AS WOOD JOINS AFLW COACHES
Natalie Wood has joined Geelong’s AFLW coaching panel and will take the reins for the VFLW side next season.
GEELONG has broken new ground by appointing Natalie Wood as its first female fulltime assistant coach.
Wood, who played for 16 years at an elite level, will join Paul Hood’s AFLW coaching panel before taking the VFLW head role next season.
“That’s pretty daunting actually, filling Hoody’s shoes,” Wood said.
“He’s very much a well- loved and admired coach around the club and around the greater area of Geelong.
“I won’t be letting him go too far, that’s for sure. I’m sure he’ll guide me through it. The last two years with his mentorship and guidance, I’ve been able to develop.
“I wouldn’t have thought two years ago I’d be ready but I hopefully by the start of next year I am.”
It was a “quick email” to Geelong media manager Kevin Diggerson that saw the Bellarine Secondary College teacher given an opportunity to work with the Cats’ female footballers, and two years on, Wood will quit her job to take up a full-time role at GHMBA Stadium.
“I guess it wasn’t the intention, I was just keen to get back into football and get back around it, but since being involved I’ve been incredible impressed by the way the club operates,” she said.
“I couldn’t help myself but find ways to become more and more involved to keep developing myself as a coach and keep developing the players as well.”
Wood played 190 games at VWFL level for Melbourne University and the Darebin Falcons, represented Vic Country nine times and the Northern Territory once at national level, and also played for the Western Bulldogs in two AFL women’s exhibition matches.
“My first year was in 1998, so a lot has changed,” she said.
“I was really fortunate in the latter part of my years playing at Darebin and playing with the new generation of players coming through — your Daisy Pearces, Aasta O’Connors, Mel Hickeys — that brought a completely new approach to football.
“I was really keen and motivated by what they brought.”
But Wood said she never believed a career in football would be an option.
“I guess women’s football and women’s sport wasn’t on the map, so dreaming of working in the sport industry wasn’t something you had a lot of role models for,” she said.
“It probably wasn’t necessarily a dream, but now to have an opportunity . . . it’s a bit of a no-brainer.”
Wood, who was an assistant coach of the AFLW under-18 Allstars game and for Vic Country in the AFL Women’s under-18 National Championships, will also undertake work in the Geelong’s Next Gen Academy as part of her role.