Inaugural Melbourne AFLW coach Mick Stinear is looking to bring his premiership-winning experience to Geelong, settling into his new role as coach of the Cats women’s program.
With his family based out of Anglesea, Stinear said the trip back and forth to Melbourne became too much.
“I’ve loved the Dees; I commuted for six-and-a-half years because I loved the people and loved our team, but it got to a point where it just wasn’t sustainable,” he said.
“Something was going to have to give – either where we were living or the job.
“During the finals campaign, I didn’t want to make an emotional decision either way.”
Melbourne came close to denying North Melbourne a second straight AFLW Premiership, leading the Roos by 19 points just 12 minutes into in their preliminary final last year, but ultimately fell 10 points short of earning their spot in the Grand Final.
“Part of me in that finals campaign was like ‘if we were to go out in straight sets and not perform against Brisbane, against Adelaide, against North, the group definitely needs a change’, Stinear said.
“Part of me was also curious to see how the team was going to perform and see what impact that would have on the decision.
“You talk about being all in and focused, and as one of the senior leaders I wanted to live that as well.
“That’s probably why my emotions were pretty heightened during that finals campaign, because you’re operating under a level of fatigue, you’re emotional about the future and worried about those decisions, and then [experiencing] the pure emotion of watching the team play for each other and compete.
“A lot of things were bubbling around, but it wasn’t until it probably a day or two after that prelim and then you start to think a little bit more clearly.
“I just felt like the players got themselves to a really good spot, they’ve got a good handle on their footy and what they need to do to be successful in this comp- I can pull back and someone else can take them to that next step.”
Stinear isn’t shy about his love for the Demons, coaching the AFLW team since it’s inception and leading them to their maiden premiership win in 2022, and said exploring other roles wasn’t really ever on his radar.
“I think the opportunity to coach the women’s team [at Geelong] was not something I was initially pursuing,” he said.
“But then the timing of it, some of the list changes, some of the talent within the group… as you get a little bit older as a coach you start to see your own strengths a bit more and start to go, ‘no, I feel like I can actually really help your program.’
“The timing, the opportunity, the ability to have the family and the stability at home, while the kids go through school, all of that was a big factor.”
As for what he hopes to bring to Geelong, which has failed to play finals the past two seasons following an audacious run to the 2023 preliminary final, Stinear is confident fans will be able to see an improvement this year.
“I definitely feel like we can challenge, and can challenge early, because there is a high level of care within this program- it’s trying to leverage off that rather than stay safe,” he said. “Yes, we care for each other, but we’re a high-performing team and we’re going to get after it. “We’re still going to have each other’s backs, but we’re not going to sit in this comfort zone. “We’re going to keep pushing and challenging, and want to get better. “I haven’t felt any reluctance to challenge.”
“We want to run the best program in the women’s competition, so we need to be creative, we need to be constantly challenging each other and trying to level up, and then you want that to flow through to the players in their pursuit of mastery with their skill or their role and their development.
“Just watching their games, they lost a lot of that connection and ability to play for each other. Three players might go to one ball and then, if we’re collapsing in, there’s no opportunity to then create on the outside. There’s a lot of talented players and we’re just sort of nearly working against each other.
“When you watch the game back, you just see little opportunities to give them clarity on what we want the contest to look like. For a lot of them, it’s not something they hadn’t been doing. I’ve seen this team perform really well before, the core group, but it’s helping them get back to that spot.
“‘Chasing greatness’ is a phrase that’s used here, but excellence and high performance and the pursuit of it- there’s not an end point you get to and you’ve mastered it. That’s what I love about footy, you’re constantly learning and evolving.”
X: @krockfootball
