IN THE days and weeks before Mick Stinear left Melbourne, he'd grappled with a decision that he'd emotionally struggled with. That was until one off-handed comment from Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking changed his outlook on a choice that practically just made sense.

Stinear, Melbourne's AFLW premiership coach of 10 seasons, had spent much of the last decade driving from his home in Anglesea to the club's base in Casey. On bad days, that commute could stretch to nearly four hours. Even on the good days, arriving in under three would be a bonus. He'd train, teach, bond, strategise, plan, make the long trek home, then do it all over again the next day.

For 12 months, Stinear had felt emotionally and physically drained. And yet the connections he'd built at the Dees had made the decision to eventually depart the most difficult one of his career. Until, in that conversation with Hocking, a gentle reminder about the nature of football clubs made an otherwise obvious choice finally feel like the right one.

"I was reluctant to leave Melbourne because I absolutely loved it," Stinear, the new Geelong AFLW coach, said in a lengthy sit-down at GMHBA Stadium this week.

"But in a conversation with Steve Hocking, he'd said, 'You do understand footy clubs are full of great people'. I was really fixated on the group at Melbourne and obviously you build a strong connection. But he just made a comment like that. I'd been involved in a few different clubs in my lifetime and it just made me think, actually, yeah, it's a pretty good point.

"I was a bit narrow minded around [Melbourne] being the only good group of people in the world. It has been really nice meeting other people and discovering that, starting to build those relationships and getting out of my comfort zone a little bit again. So, that was one comment that really made me think.

"I knew, practically, this was a good transition. But emotionally, it wasn't really a place that I wanted to depart. We'd had some success and we'd been consistently thereabouts, but it felt like we'd actually regenerated the list and the playing group was in a really good spot. But the timing of it all came together nicely."

Stinear had always felt comfortable out of contract. In his final seasons at Melbourne, a succession of one-year deals gave him the flexibility to decide on his future while leaving the door open for rival clubs to enquire about his availability. Several, including multiple interstate options, did just that. But none felt realistic at the time.

That was until Geelong came calling. The closest club to Stinear's family geographically, the Cats parted ways with Dan Lowther late last season and made the move for the AFLW's most sought-after senior coach. Having felt that emotional exhaustion for nearly 12 months at that stage – having first dawned on him late in 2024 – the decision to ultimately swap blue and red for blue and white finally made sense.

With a young family – his sons Fitzroy and Jack are just seven and five years old – it seemed a logical choice. But it's also had its practical advantages, some of which are already bearing fruit. Recently, he and wife Rachel hosted the family of new Cats draftee Priya Bowering at their Anglesea abode. Previously, given the distance challenges, an intimate experience like that just wouldn't have been possible at Melbourne.

And yet, in an ideal world, Stinear might not have left the Demons. But the culmination of such challenges – family, travel, work, the stress of a season, and everything in between – forced his hand. After weeks and months, and probably even years of going through the pros and cons, it was a call that ultimately had to be made.

"The previous season, when we had a rough year and just missed out on finals, I was pretty fatigued at the end of that year," Stinear said.

"We were just starting to weigh up, 'Are we going to move back to Melbourne so I can give more of myself and have a better balance with family and work?' We were starting to have those conversations. Something was going to have to give, either where we're living or the job. That was 12 months before.

"We felt like during the finals campaign, we didn't want to make an emotional decision either way. There were conversations with other clubs around, 'You're out of contract … what are you doing?' But I was just locked in for the finals. It wasn't until we finished, then you have the conversation around, 'Are we moving or staying?' As a family, we were pretty adamant on staying where we were.

"The conversation with [Geelong's head of AFLW] Dom Condo and 'Hock' at the end of the season, they gave me the space to make the call. I ended up making a practical decision, rather than an emotional one. I knew I had to make a decision either way, but it wasn't until the end of that preliminary final.

"Even part of me in that finals campaign was like … if we were to go out in straight sets and not perform against Brisbane or Adelaide or North Melbourne, then the group definitely needs a change. Part of me was curious how the team was going to perform and see what impact that would have on the decision.

"But it just clicked for us in that second half against Adelaide. To see the team full of belief, I just felt like the players got themselves to a really good spot. It actually felt like a good time. They've got a good handle on their footy and what they need to do to be successful in this competition, now I can pull back and someone else can take them to that next step."

The culmination of Stinear's 12-month decision resulted in an emotional reaction at the end of Melbourne's dramatic 11-point semi-final win over Adelaide, when the Dees coach was left in floods of tears on the bench as his players celebrated their passage to the preliminary final.

By that stage, while Stinear himself remained in a sort of limbo, Melbourne's players had cottoned on to the decision that would ultimately be made. Messages of support throughout the week from the Dees' playing group, as well as a couple of heartfelt chats in person, formed the basis of the emotional outpouring on the full-time siren.

"It's an emotional industry," Stinear said.

"There was fatigue, but there was the joy and pride of coaching that group. I get emotional reliving it, when players like Kate Hore look you in the eye and say, 'There's no f***ing way we're losing this game'. You spend most of your time not making it about you, then all of a sudden you're copping it all at once.

"I was getting really long text messages, players coming into my office telling me how appreciative they were. I think some of the players were aware that my time was coming to an end. I was likely to have less time with them than more. A few of them were a bit more open in sharing their appreciation or the impact I'd had on them.

"You do start to realise that we recruited some of these players at 18 and now they're 27 or 28 years of age and you have ridden a lot of life's highs and lows and it's not just in footy. A lot of that was starting to hit me, then you were physically interacting with them on game day and there was a lot more emotion.

"As a father, I'm getting far more emotional as well. But it did all hit. From a coaching perspective, we couldn't quite get it to click. There was a feeling of that joy in the second half of the Adelaide game. Sometimes, there's only so much you can do as a coaching group. They need to figure it out and play for each other and get on the same page. You've got to pull back as coaches so they can have that opportunity. There was a lot of joy in just seeing that."

But now, Stinear is fully invested in Geelong. Having started in January through a few individual catchups with his new squad, the premiership coach is already feeling like his Cats team shares his ambition and his determination to succeed. Immediately.

But there's a benchmark to catch and that's been set by North Melbourne. The reigning back-to-back premiers haven't lost in 29 matches and won every game in a truly glittering 2025 season. But Stinear's old side, Melbourne, pushed the Kangas as hard as anyone in the preliminary final. Meanwhile his new side, Geelong, is the only team to have taken points from Darren Crocker's charges across the last two years.

So, can Geelong contend? And can the Cats be the team to finally knock North Melbourne off its perch? With star talent like Nina Morrison and Georgie Prespakis now leading the way, Stinear is bullish on what can be achieved straightaway.

"There are a lot of experienced players at North Melbourne that have been getting it done for a while, so hopefully there's an element of winning fatigue," Stinear joked. "But I am sure they're as driven as ever to go again.

"I don't go into this season thinking, 'How are we possibly going to beat North?' It's going to take a fair bit of hard work, but they are beatable. You want to win it and I don't see any reason why this team can't contend. I don't think, with where our list is at, we need to go through multiple years of developing.

"Everyone is competitive, I'm competitive. I want to be playing finals. The year we missed at Melbourne, it was not a good feeling for an entire off-season. With where the current list is at, we should be back playing finals and contending.

"How quickly we can gel as a group, that'll dictate how effective we can be against great teams like North Melbourne. But when we're planning, looking at roles and positions and game style, you're lining that up to beat the best.

"I'm not thinking we're miles off that or that we'd be in fear of playing against them."