OUT IN THE COLD
But dumped duo take it on the chin
INSTEAD of spending their days watching football vision and running training at the top level, Natalie Wood and Jason Davenport are both left wondering if they have a future in the game.
A member of Geelong’s AFLW coaching staff and its VFLW head coach last year, Wood has picked up teaching jobs since coronavirus forced her out of her role with the Cats.
Davenport had settled into a job in player development at Carlton but now spends his days working with former
Geelong teammate David Johnson on a steam cleaning business.
The coaches are two of many left without jobs because of COVID-19, with both told they will not return to their respective roles in 2021.
Wood — who was the first female coach in Geelong’s history — was told on Tuesday that her job in the women’s program was gone.
“Being a realist, we had a team of six full-time staff in the women’s program and I was really glad to be part of it, but I knew that there were cuts coming,” she told SEN.
“In one way the realist in me understands that there are e more important roles to put up p at the moment in terms of hav- ing to cut back on restructure but it feels like two steps forward and one step back for women in the coaching game anyway.”
A talented player before the existence of the AFLW, Wood said she hoped to continue to grow the game in some capacity next year.
“I’ve got the interest of the game at heart first and foremost and then the team success after that,” she said. “In the current situation, not being able to be a part of that is something that I will miss.”
A former AFL player with Geelong and Port Adelaide before a role as player-coach for North Shore in the GFL from 2015 to 2017, Davenport said he had heard from Carlton coach David Teague often while he was stood down from his job.
While he still watches Blues games from the couch, Davenport said he was unsure whether he would return to work in football next year. “To be stood down from the Carlton Football Club is not what I wanted to happen but also it’s not the biggest priority in my life,” he said.
“At the end of the day, people’s lives are being lost and jobs and families are being impacted. My circumstances mean that it’s stressful but it wasn’t out of reach for us (his family) to be OK.”