AFLW’s first premiership coach leaves to pursue police career
The AFLW's inaugural premiership coach Bec Goddard has parted ways with the Adelaide Crows after two seasons at the helm, the club says.
Goddard moved to South Australia after being appointed to the position in 2016 and coached the club to victory in the first year of the competition in 2017, beating Brisbane by six points.
The 39-year-old is an AFP officer, and transferred to Adelaide to work in the anti-child exploitation unit during her tenure with the Crows.
But the club said she had now returned to Canberra to resume her "pursue her law enforcement career".
"I feel very privileged to have coached Adelaide's AFLW team for the past two seasons," Goddard said in a statement released by the club.
"It has been an honour to work with this playing group and I'll always be proud of what we achieved and grateful to the Adelaide Football Club for the opportunity."
Crows CEO Andrew Fagan paid tribute to Goddard, saying she was "instrumental in establishing our AFLW program and will always be part of the Crows family".
"We will always be grateful for her work both on and off the field in establishing such a strong platform for us to continue to grow the women's game," he said.
He placed responsibility for the decision squarely with Goddard.
"In a perfect world, we would love to have seen Bec continue in her coaching role but equally understand the decision she has made," Fagan said.
Goddard has previously been critical of the underrepresentation of women in coaching positions across the competition.
"There's been lots of discussions that there was probably not enough qualified around to coach at that level but I think that was probably a bit of an excuse from AFLW clubs," she said in March.
The club said it would seek a replacement for Goddard within the coming weeks.
[contf]
[contfnew]
ABC .net
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
