At the age of 13, when Bec Goddard had to give up playing footy, she couldn’t have imagined she’d eventually have a full-time career as a high-performance coach in the sport she loves.
Now after 20 years as a police officer taking coaching and other sporting positions where she could, Goddard is preparing the inaugural Hawthorn AFL Women’s (AFLW) team to take the field in Saturday night’s flagship round one game against “arch enemy” Essendon. She’s in her dream job, putting the final touches on the highly-anticipated game that had to be moved from a smaller stadium a couple of weeks back, after selling out.
Appointed to the full time coaching position on 1 April of this year, Goddard will go head to head against Essendon’s own inaugural AFLW team, and head coach Natalie Wood.
We spoke to the two coaches in the lead-up to this weekend’s opening round for the seventh AFLW season, as part of a partnership between Women’s Agenda and AFLW, aiming to highlight the diverse representation of women across the code.
The two coaches represent significant progress made on the women’s game, which kicked of its seventh season on Thursday night. AFL is now the biggest employer of female athletes in the country, with 480 players contracted.
“Five years ago, if you said I’d be working full time as a high performance coach at the club I grew up supporting, wearing a tracksuit to work every day – which is the greatest perk of being a coach – I wouldn’t believe you,” Goddard said.
Goddard’s footy experience spans playing – after having to give up the game at 13, she was able to play again in 1999 upon the launch of a competition in Canberra. She’s umpired men’s football, coached women’s football at the community level, and was an assistance coach in the AFL first grade before moving to Adelaide for her police work. She was approached to interview for the role of head coach of the inaugural Adelaide team, which won the first AFLW premiership in 2017.
Natalie Wood, a former assistant principal, spoke about the death of her father jolting her into action on pursuing a full time career with the AFL. She had been making herself available to the club on her days off and in the school holidays. “Did I see it all happening? No,” she says. “But there was an opportunity. It was a big step to leave a career I was invested in, and maybe I wouldn’t have done it if Dad hadn’t passed away.”
Wood says she’s had to learn a lot, moving from the education system to professional football, and notes there is more flexibility within the latter which can be challenging. She described coming into football during a big period of change, especially with the AFL season being brought forward by six months.
Wood says that for her team, the opportunity to play at Marvel provides a sense of belonging, pride, and recognition of the work they have and continue to put in.
She says she didn’t expect the AFLW would happen and progress this quickly. “It’s still not without its battles. But it’s a much more optimistic landscape.”
Goddard says the idea of being a professional AFL coach wasn’t even something she could have dreamed about as a child. “I never dreamed about it. The opportunity didn’t exist. It’s only been in the last five or six years that I’ve realised, I could actually do this.”
On the opening game at Marvel, Goddard says that the larger stadium shows the value of women. “They deserve to be on these big stages. They deserve these big opportunities, which as we know can have flow-on effects in terms of how women are treated.
I know how excited our team is. How excited the fans are. This is the dawn of a new era.”
While there’s been fast movement and change, it’s come about from passion, dedication and hard work – from coaches like Goddard and Wood, as well of course from the players who have together fast increased the skills, athleticism and overall grit of the game.
Both coaches note the huge effort their players put in, well beyond their contracted hours. Most have second jobs, study, or other priorities outside of football. Goddard notes Kaitlyn Ashmore, who will play her 50th game in the opening round. Ashmore is a primary school teacher, who juggles school work, football and long travel times. She told a press conference on Friday that “the last 10 weeks have been the best fun I’ve had” and described the hectic schedule as difficult but added that “it doesn’t really matter when you love it.”
In coaching, both Wood and Goddard bring their previous careers and work experience to the job. Wood says every coach has a different style. “No matter what, I believe [players] want someone who is genuine. No matter what sport you’re talking about, that model of care – seeing players feeling safe and secure first and foremost – is so important.
Both coaches have also achieved significant firsts in sport, although Goddard says that’s not necessarily something she likes to think about.
“I don’t like going first,” she told a press conference on Friday. “It reminds me of all the people who didn’t get to go before us.”
Women’s Agenda has partnered with the AFL Women’s to share more stories of players, coaches and other women involved in the game, during the 7th Season.