Tasmania Devils VFLW coach Georgia Walker says she would love to become the club’s inaugural AFLW coach as the club prepares to appoint a women’s mentor before the end of the year.
The Devils have previously said they aim to appoint an AFLW coach before the end of the year, giving the successful candidate time to help shape the club’s women’s program ahead of its entry into the competition in 2028.
Walker said the recent appointment of Ken Hinkley as the Devils’ inaugural AFL coach had made the club’s AFL future feel more real.
“It’s actually happening,” she said.
“And they start talking about the list and AFLW starts in a couple of weeks, you know.”
Asked whether she aspired to coach the Devils’ AFLW side, Walker said she would welcome the opportunity to lead the program.
“Absolutely, I would love to put myself in for that spot,” she said.
“But I’m also in the space, I’m really loving what we’re building and I get very … protective of my groups.”
“I might actually not want to leave them.”
Walker coached St Kilda’s next generation academy then spent four years at Greater Western Sydney in a range of coaching roles before joining Tasmania.
Walker said coaching at the elite level had been a dream since childhood.
“I’ve had a dream journal since I was like eight and it’s been, you know, to be an AFLW player or be an AFL coach,” she said.
“It’s definitely something that I absolutely would aspire to be.”
Walker said she believed a small handful of players in her current VFLW squad had the potential to be part of Tasmania’s inaugural AFLW list.
She said Georgia Clark’s recent signing with the GWS Giants highlighted the pathway the club is building.
“So that was a really great reward for her,” Walker said.
“She’s in career best form, I’d say.”
“It definitely gave the rest of the girls a bit of a hope of, like, oh, okay, this can happen for me as well.”
Walker said the Devils’ VFLW program was designed to help players reach the AFLW, whether that was with Tasmania in 2028 or another club beforehand.
The Devils return from their bye this weekend when they travel to Melbourne to face Essendon on Saturday at 1.05pm.
The team currently sits in 11th on the ladder but a win could put them as high as seventh.
