AFLW 2023: Renee Garing on her remarkable rise from local netballer to Cats stalwart

Renee Garing still pinches herself about how a new sporting career started out of nowhere. And a push from a friend helped her go from St Mary’s to the bigtime.

Renee Garing will retire at the end of the season. Picture: Getty Images

Renee Garing may have never stepped back onto the footy field if it weren’t for being tagged in a Facebook comment.

Geelong’s VFLW side put a call-out on social media in November 2016 for hopefuls to a spot on their list, and the St Mary’s netball star obliged after being alerted by a friend in the comments section.

Already signed for another season at St Mary’s, the 28-year-old – who hadn’t played footy since she graduated at Christian College Geelong 10 years ago – went into the session with no expectations of it going any further.

Seven years later, Garing will hang up the boots with 30 games for Geelong’s AFLW side – and possibly more in the likely event the Cats make the finals – under her belt and plenty of treasured memories.

After half a decade at St Mary’s, Garing still pinches herself that she was able to join VFLW list in 2017, become an inaugural Cat in Geelong’s very first AFLW season, and carve out a career with her lack of experience.

Renee Garing went from playing coach of St Mary’s to the bigtime. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I was playing coach at the time at St Mary’s and I was meant to be signed for the following year coaching again and playing for 2017 and it was at the end of 2016 in November the Cats put out a call for tryouts basically for their VFL team,” Garing explained.

“A friend tagged me on Facebook. ‘Geelong Cats tryout at Deakin, come and have a go, put yourself forward’.

“I like fitness and they had some fitness testing so I thought, ‘oh I’ll go and have a run around’, and no expectation at all of getting in but thought I’d give it a go.

“I pinch myself sometimes, it’s not something I ever pictured in my future. When you’re 28 and have reached the level I was going to in netball and was quite happy playing local and coaching and then a whole new sporting career took off.

“I still find it pretty hard to believe sometimes. Coming to an end there is emotions that come with that and it’s always hard when you’re part of a special group and love what the club’s doing to say goodbye and move on – not yet obviously.”

Her full focus is on helping the Cats push as far as they can into the finals series, having missed both 2022 seasons will pregnant with her first child, Parker, and working hard to get back into the side.

But expect to see Garing back out on the netball court in the years to come, where she first made a name for herself in Geelong.

“Obviously I’m still fully invested in football right now and this weekend’s game and hopefully beyond but I’ve always said that post my footy career I will look forward to getting back to playing netball in whatever capacity that looks like.

“I love the game of netball, it is very different to footy obviously but I will look forward to having a game.

“I’m interested to see how I go and got to remember the differences in physicality that you are allowed to do netball to footy.”

Inaugural Cat calls time on career as finals loom

Much-loved Geelong veteran Renee Garing will retire when the Cats’ AFLW season comes to an end.

Garing, 35, made her AFLW debut at the age of 31 after being promoted from the club’s VFLW program ahead of their inaugural season in 2019.

A highly regarded leader and member of the Cats’ leadership group, Garing played every game for the club in their first three seasons before being moved to the inactive list in season six when she was pregnant.

Remarkably, she returned to training two weeks after giving birth to her first child, Parker, making her return to the AFLW in round one of this year — 889 days since her last game.

The midfielder has played 29 matches for Geelong and will be hoping to extend her career beyond this weekend, with a win against Hawthorn booking the Cats’ place in the AFLW finals.

Renee Garing in action in 2021. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Garing showed she remains an integral part of the Cats’ side with a season-high 12 disposals, eight tackles and a goal against Richmond last weekend.

She has also made a major impact in the Geelong community, claiming two Carter Family Community Champion awards

Garing said she feels privileged to have played for the club she grew up supporting and thanked the club for their support on and off the field.

“Despite being a Geelong supporter growing up, I could never have dreamt of playing for the Cats because it wasn’t a possibility at that point in time,” Garing said.

“I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to pull on the hoops and pave the way for future generations of young girls that can now dream of playing football at the elite level.

“From the very beginning, I have felt right at home at Geelong, from the early days of learning the fundamentals of the game, to being supported throughout my pregnancy journey with Parker, and my return to playing AFLW. Through all aspects of my journey, I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to help me to develop and thrive as an athlete and a mum.

“I would like to thank everyone that has played a role in my football journey, in particular my husband Tony, my son Parker and our parents for their ongoing support and encouragement.”

Garing and her son, Parker. Picture: David Caird

Geelong coach Dan Lowther said Garing’s combination of fierce competitiveness, leadership and care will be missed.

“Renee is the epitome of professionalism and competitiveness, and sets an impeccable standard at the club, living our team values of consistent, competitive and combative,” Lowther said.

“While Renee is a fierce footballer on the field, she is also one of the most caring people I have ever met off it, and she has played a big role in shaping our group to what it is today.

“While we’ll miss her presence on the field after this season, Renee will always be a Geelong person, and we wish her, Tony and Parker all the very best in their next chapter.”

Originally published as AFLW 2023: Renee Garing on her remarkable rise from local netballer to Cats stalwart