Dani Laidley cops second straight AFLW head coaching role snub

Former North Melbourne coach Dani Laidley has been left out in the cold once again in her pursuit to get back into the coaching game.

For the second time, Dani Laidley has been overlooked for an AFLW head coaching role.

The former North Melbourne coach had thrown her hat into the ring for the Western Bulldogs top job, but fell short at the final hurdle.

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The Bulldogs ultimately signed Tamara Hyett as their new AFLW coach with Laidley being passed over in the final stages of their search.

It makes it two straight times Laidley has been overlooked after the West Coast Eagles went with AFLW legend Daisy Pearce as their new coach.

Hyett, who coached the Sandringham Dragons in the Coates Talent League Girls competition and was a premiership assistant coach with Melbourne in 2022, earnt the nod for her first senior role and will be the fifth woman at the helm of a side next season.

As well as Laidley she was also preferred to inaugural premiership coach Paul Groves, who had thrown his hat in the ring to return to the AFLW after quitting the job in 2019.

Laidley missed out for the second time.

Hyett landed the Dogs role.

Laidley confirmed she wanted to return to coaching and flagged an interest in the vacant West Coast role in November.

“It’s been a passion of mine and I’ve sort of been ready for about 12 months and even actually for this AFLW season, I was asked to do a coaching role at one of the Melbourne teams,” she told SEN in November.

“But I couldn’t because I was contracted for the (Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes documentary).

“People have connected the dots, West Coast have got a position available and yes, I want to coach again.”

A return to top flight will have to wait for the former Kangaroos premiership player, who hasn’t held a role at a club since she left her assistant role at Carlton in 2015.

Laidley wants back in the coaching ranks. (Photo by Sam Tabone/Getty Images)

Hyett, a former pro golfer, arrived late to football and played her first VFLW game for the St Kilda Sharks aged 35 before becoming an assistant coach at the club.

She was brought to Melbourne ahead of the 2021 season to work as a midfield development coach before taking on a role in charge of the backline.

The Demons and Hyett parted ways at the end of the 2023.

The Bulldogs are also searching for a head of women’s football to oversee the program after a comprehensive review of the club’s football department, which also led to Matthew Egan’s appointment as general manager of football operations.

Previous AFLW coach, St Kilda great Nathan Burke, was sacked after the Bulldogs’ disappointing 1-9 campaign in 2023, which ended the with the wooden spoon and a raft of player departures including former No. 1 pick Gabby Newton to Fremantle.

– with Ed Bourke, NCA Newswire