Former AFLW player Sarah Sansonetti on why teaching, footy coaching go ‘hand-in-hand’

A host of AFL and AFLW coaches began their working lives as teachers. Now a former Collingwood player plans to do this “the other way round”. Hear her story.

Playing under elite coaches in Collingwood and Richmond’s AFLW programs taught Sarah Sansonetti a lot about the art of teaching.

Her coaches’ ability to “build trust and connections with new people” while also maintaining an air of authority has been particularly inspiring for the 23-year-old since returning to her high school – Watsonia’s Loyola College – to coach students in sport.

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“You want to build relationships with students – for me, so they enjoy sport and want to get involved,” Sansonetti said. “But there is a boundary. You’re their teacher and you need to have that authority.

“(Achieving that balance) is something I’ve learned from watching footy coaches.”

Former AFLW player Sarah Sansonetti with students Liana Georgiev and Abbey Mills, who she coaches in footy at her former school, Loyola College. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Sansonetti is working at Loyola while studying a Master of Teaching, coaching students from year 7-12 in inter-school mixed touch rugby, lawn bowls and girls’ AFL.

She is also on the Bulldogs’ VFLW list for season 2025, having notched 39 AFLW games across Collingwood and Richmond from 2020-24.

Coaching and teaching “go hand-in-hand”, says Sansonetti, who was a student at Loyola until 2019. She is looking forward to transferring her “passion for coaching” into the classroom once she wraps up her Masters – hopefully at the end of next year.

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“I started coaching post-Covid at Loyola and learnt how much I like teaching the kids new skills, and seeing them adopt them on a footy field or rugby pitch,” she said.

“I’m gathering I’ll get the same excitement from teaching kids in the classroom.

“A lot of coaches in the football world stem from teaching – they do teaching then coaching. I’ll be doing it the other way round.”

Sarah Sansonetti in action as a Collingwood AFLW player, tackling GWS forward Cora Staunton. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane Lions premiership coach Chris Fagan and AFLW coaches Lauren Arnell (Port Adelaide), Lisa Webb (Fremantle) and Natalie Wood (Essendon) all have teaching backgrounds.

Since returning to Loyola – which is governed by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – Sansonetti has enjoyed seeing “how schools work behind the scenes”, and building different relationships with some of the staff who had taught her.

This includes her year 10 religious education teacher Sean Simpson, who always supported her as a student and continues to guide her now she is teaching.

After she graduates, Sansonetti hopes to draw on her Bachelor’s degree in science and her coaching work to become a science and PE teacher. She also aspires to get back on an AFLW list.

In the meantime, she is “excited for the VFLW season to start”, and by the opportunity to support the growth in female school students playing footy.

“(A girls’ AFL program) was almost non-existent when I was going through school,” Sansonetti said.

“But now, it’s pretty cool to see a weekly competition with six to seven schools in it. And the fact we have an all-female coaching staff is special.”

Follow our Australia’s Best Teachers advocacy series – in partnership with Officeworks, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, Education Perfect and BigAss Fans – via this link.

Originally published as Former AFLW player Sarah Sansonetti on why teaching, footy coaching go ‘hand-in-hand’