No need for hyperbole as proactive Cats push AFLW bona fides
GEELONG will send an eightstrong delegation to the AFL today to present the club’s final pitch for a team in the AFLW competition.
The Cats last month submitted a revamped submission to the AFL, focusing on what the club has done and is doing for women’s footy, not grand promises about what it will do.
Geelong’s meeting today will reinforce the interactive presentation the club lodged on June 16.
Cats football manager Steve Hocking, club director Diana Taylor, VFLW coach Paul Hood and VFLW captain Bec Goring, corporate partnerships manager Louise Iozzi, strategy and insights manager Jonathan Lee and people and culture manager Tracy Gilligan will meet with the AFL.
AFL Barwon region manager Lee Hartman is also part of the team, outlining the booming growth in women’s football in the region over the past 24 months.
The AFL is expected to decide on the new AFLW teams at a commission meeting next month.
A minimum of two new sides will gain entry for the 2019 season, but the final number will be determined by the strength of the applications.
Told by the AFL last year that a limited talent pool in the
“It’s certainly not part of my remit to dictate how individuals conduct themselves in terms of their personality,” he said.
“We encourage guys to be themselves. Would I have done it? Probably not.
“But it’s not the coach’s position to dictate these things.”
Scott said he had spoken to Taylor about the prank.
“In a roundabout way, I asked him if the question was put to me in the press conference, should I confirm or deny it? And he wasn’t prepared to deny it, so that said enough,” he said.
“I’m not sure if he was proud of the gag or not; it’s not the most important thing we’ve considered all week.
“We want people within our organisation to be themselves and I think the media and the public are also asking to see a little bit more of what players are really like, and we don’t want to do anything to discourage that as long as it’s within the boundaries of our values system.
“(Taylor’s prank) might be outside the boundaries of good taste but I don’t think it really harms anyone.” Geelong region was a major factor in being denied an initial licence, the Cats’ new pitch details the significant growth in female football in the region in the past 12-24 months.
Geelong’s bid spruiks the club’s amenities — currently no other AFLW club can offer an AFL ground to play on — as well as the initiative the club took by running its own women’s side in the VFLW this year.
Also part of pitch are the: SUCCESSFUL roll out of the Cats’ VFLW team; THE facilities available at Simonds Stadium and Deakin University; STRONG sponsorship support; THE rapid growth of female participation since the Cats partnered with AFL Barwon; PASSIONATE support and media coverage from local outlets, headlined by the Geelong Advertiser. CAREER pathways into the AFL industry through employ- ment with the women’s team; STRUCTURES in place to seamlessly move into AFLW; CLUB’S strong history of delivering on its promise and proven ability to run additional teams, like its VFL.
Geelong believes it runs its VFLW program better than some clubs’ AFLW programs.
Priority weighting is said to be afforded to provisional licence holders St Kilda, Geelong, North Melbourne, Richmond and West Coast.