GEORGIE Prespakis, Emma King and Tam Luke are part of a new generation of AFLW players beginning their journeys in the coaching landscape.

Prespakis and King are current players with Geelong and North Melbourne respectively, whilst Luke retired last year (for the second time!) after playing with St Kilda, Hawthorn and Richmond.

With the AFLW now entering its 10th season, the flow-on effect of the game's growth has meant there are more coaching positions available to former and current players at community and elite level.

There are roles now available in the talent pathways through the Coates Talent League, in VFLW programs and of course retired players can join the AFLW ranks, following in the footsteps of Lauren Arnell and Daisy Pearce.

For some AFLW players it's about giving back, being role models and providing positive learnings to the young girls who have grown up playing football. For others, it's about extending themselves, getting out of their comfort zones and trying new things. Some want to stay involved in the game they love and keep the social connection that comes with playing a team sport.

With more women having played at the highest level, there are now more women with exceptional knowledge of AFL who can pass on what they have learnt to their pupils.

AFL.com.au spoke to three AFLW players making waves in the coaching space.

Georgie Prespakis - Geelong VFLW Development and Next Gen Academy coach

In the past 18 months, former No.2 draft pick Georgie Prespakis has taken on an array of coaching opportunities.

From Geelong Cats community clinics, to school football programs, to running clinics of her own, Prespakis continues to build her coaching resume.

This year the Geelong local has added further strings to her bow, becoming a development coach with the Cats' VFLW team and leading the club's Next Generation Academy (NGA).

"I kind of just kept getting involved in multiple different things. I'm someone that likes being a part of different programs to kind of see how different things operate. So when the opportunity came up with the VFLW program, I was interested to go down and see," explains Prespakis.

"I joined as a development coach and then there was a bit of a gap as we didn't have a midfield coach and it took a little while to fill the role, so I was somewhat fortunate to get thrown in the deep end a little bit being a mids coach for a couple of practice matches."

The 22-year-old loved the experience, particularly the players' desire to learn and improve.

"I think the best thing about being involved in the VFLW, you've got so many girls that are just trying to get the best out of themselves. Whether it's them wanting to achieve getting into the AFLW or just being content with playing VFLW and just being the best individuals they can be.

"They're all working throughout the day and they come to training at night and they've just got this eagerness to want to get better and want to learn."

From there another door opened for Prespakis when the club were looking for a coach for their girls under 15 NGA side.

"The Next Gen Academy came into play this year and I said it'd be great to be involved. It was the club's first girls team, which was super exciting," said Prespakis.

"Obviously working with a younger age group to the VFLW so it was more an opportunity for girls to play new positions, but also just go there and enjoy themselves and enjoy the experience."

The program involved playing in a showcase game at GMHBA Stadium prior to the Geelong and Western Bulldogs AFL match in May.

Prespakis wants to continue learning and adding to her current skillset in the hope of one day working in an AFL program.

"I'd love to be involved as an assistant coach role in an AFL men's team one day," said Prespakis.

"Obviously I want to get the most out of my playing career before I enter the coaching one but the more I can chip away at now and continue to grow, it's certainly something that I’m aspiring to do post-career."

Emma King - Oakleigh Chargers Assistant Coach

This season North Melbourne ruck Emma King is embracing a new era of her playing career.

It's the era where she walks out on the field and lines up against a player she has previously coached.

King is currently an assistant coach at the Oakleigh Chargers in the Coates Talent League, a role that she has held since 2023.

In the 2024 draft the Chargers had four of their players drafted to AFLW clubs, meaning that this season King could potentially line up against her former students.

"We had four girls drafted. It's exciting but it's also a weird feeling because I could be versing them," explains King.

"Round one, we (North Melbourne) have Geelong and that's where Sienna Tallariti was drafted to, and she plays in the back line. So that's a position where we could line up with each other, which is pretty crazy."

The 31-year-old started playing at a time where there were limited females in coaching positions, and with more time on her hands these days, King decided she wanted to be a role model for the next generation coming through.

"I feel like through my juniors, or not even juniors, through my whole playing with girls or playing with women as I come through, just haven't really had that exposure to anyone in the elite space above us that's a female that is able to give us direct points of knowledge or passing on their own knowledge. And I’m in a position where I have time to do it," said King.

"I reached out to my manager and he got me in contact with the Coates League, with Ty (former Richmond and Hawthorn player, Ty Vickery) at Oakleigh Chargers, and that was in 2023, so it's my third year."

"It's been really good to be able to see the progression of the players and giving that last 10 percent of knick-knacks and little specific craft things, not necessarily just the tools, but things such as body positioning and running patterns and stuff like that. Try to help them get from under-18s into, like, the professional space."

King believes that the number of AFLW players in the coaching ranks will continue to rise.

"Yeah, definitely. People like Alicia Eva, Emma Kearney, they're going to be, you know, your big name coaches like Daisy Pearce.

"But there's a lot of girls that I think will want to stay involved in the program and just help develop the next generation. And they will want to stay involved at W level or even lower, but just have the capacity to pass on their knowledge.

"We didn't have the exposure to elite AFLW players when we were coming through the system.

"So if we can pass on our knowledge and provide that pathway and provide that experience, I think a lot of girls will jump on the bandwagon to see that the league progresses."

Tam Luke - Richmond AFLW Development Coach

When Tam Luke retired for the second time at the end of the 2024 season, the club where she played her last game of football, Richmond, wanted to keep her involved in their AFLW program.

Luke, who came into the club as a 36-year-old injury replacement player, added experience to the group and her positive impact was felt by the coaching staff and playing group.

"I finished at the end of last season and Richmond was super happy with what I'd brought to the club in the few months that I was there. And they were like, 'Are you interested in coaching?'," explains Luke.

Initially Luke politely declined and instead began coaching at the Eastern Ranges in the Coates Talent League. But after a positive experience with the Ranges, Richmond came knocking a second time and this time Luke said she was keen.

"They (Richmond) were like, 'Are you interested in a development coaching role?' And I kind of liked the idea of working with the new draftees, the ones new into the AFLW system, to help hopefully speed them up to be the best professional athletes they can be long-term as well."

So Luke began as a development coach with the Tigers for the upcoming season working with the group’s younger players.

"I've got six to eight girls I'm working with at the moment, which is great. I do some craft sessions with them, just with the development girls, and I do some education with them as well to hopefully speed their progress up.

"Sometimes they might sit in team meetings and all the senior players get what we're looking at on the vision, but they might be a bit scared and reluctant or just not quite picking up the key things that they're looking for.

"So that's my kind of role is to sit down with them all individually and as a small group to just speed up their learning processes and their game awareness and their footy IQ.

"I've enjoyed it a lot. The group of girls I've got are fantastic. They're all so eager to learn and they've got huge potential."

Luke is using this year to learn as much as possible in an attempt to figure out what's next in her coaching career.

"I think at the moment I'm looking at the short term, just doing this development coaching role and getting out of it as much as I can from like footy IQ, just the coaching environment.
 
"It's been so good to see behind the scenes and work with the high performance team around things like periodisation and why we obviously go to training in some sessions are high loads, some are low, less sprint meters, all of that type of thing and just kind of like merging it all together."

One thing Luke does know is that she loves being part of a high-performance environment and the comradery that comes with playing and coaching sport.

"I love being around the group and it's probably made it quite easy for me to transition from retirement to coaching because I'm with the same group of girls at Richmond that I was playing with last year. I know them all really well," said Luke.

"I'm still jumping in on some match sim and stuff like that when they need extra numbers, helping the rucks, helping some of the ACL rehabbers out.

"So, I'm still getting my little bit of footy stuff in there where I'm having to kick around and having a bit of a run around. So, it's been a nice transition."