AFLW premiership coach Bec Goddard finds new role in national basketball

AFTER being a pioneer in the AFLW national women’s football league, Crows premiership coach Bec Goddard is moving to basketball with the Canberra Capitals.

INAUGURAL AFLW premiership coach Bec Goddard is lost to football - at least in the short term as the 2017 Crows mentor moves to basketball.

Goddard is joining the WNBL Canberra Capitals coaching staff after a presentation in her day job with the Australian Federal Police led to an unexpected call to basketball.

Her work with the Capitals - in overseeing game-day practices and player reviews - will put Goddard out of AFLW reach, even for Adelaide that had flagged an intent to keep Goddard involved in the Crows’ national women’s league program now led by Matthew Clarke.

“It has come at a good time,” Goddard told The Advertiser on Thursday of her surprise move to basketball. “I need a break from footy - and (basketball) is a good opportunity for me to freshen up.”

Goddard, who was part of the coaching staff at the men’s football NEAFL Canberra Demons in the winter, was recommended to new Capitals coach Paul Goriss six weeks ago after impressing at an AFP seminar.

AFLW Adelaide head coach Bec Goddard with the 2017 premiership cup. Picture: Tom Huntley

“The next day (Goriss) was asking me to catch up - and at coffee he offered me a job,” Goddard said. “Beyond the player reviews and the game-day routine, Paul wants to make an already good culture with the Capitals even stronger with a better environment for the team.

“He has decided to look outside the box.”

Goddard was last involved in basketball in Canberra as a player in an under-12s team in the 1990s winning the coach’s award.

“I’ve always been an WNBL fan, from the days when Michele Timms and Rachael Sporn were making their names in the league,” Goddard said. “I’d always watch the WNBL on television and, growing up in Canberra, I’d naturally have an interest in the Capitals.”

Goddard left Adelaide - to return to the AFP in Canberra - after setting up the Crows AFLW program and coaching the Adelaide side for the first two seasons of the national league.

She spoke with Clarke two weeks ago after Adelaide set up its new-look AFLW coaching panel.

“There’s nothing available for me (in the expanded AFLW) in Season 3, so my time and my passion turns to basketball now,” Goddard said.

The WNBL season will run from October 12 to the grand final series in mid-February when the AFLW will be in its third week.

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