SHE WAS an architect of the all-conquering Australian Women's Cricket Team, and now Belinda Clark is working her magic at Carlton.
When asked about the Blues' meteoric rise in 2025 and proven ability to back it up in 2026, coach Mathew Buck is quick to mention Clark and her impact.
"I've got some great mentors out there, [captain Abbie McKay] and I both work closely with Belinda Clark who helps us in lots of different ways," Buck said ahead of Saturday's qualifying final against North Melbourne.
"We love 'BC' [Clark]," McKay said.
"She's just a calm presence. If there's anything going wrong, she has such a great perspective on our team and our club, and AFLW in general.
"I love the advice she gives us and she's a great support to all the leaders in our program."
A giant of women's sport, Clark captained the national women's cricket team between 1993 and 2005 before a 15-year stint shaping the game as an administrator at Cricket Australia.
During Clark's time as a player and top executive, Australia's women's team went from a small, underfunded 'pay to play' program to a fully professional winning machine that not only hit the mainstream but became one of the nation's proudest sporting exports.
With the official title of 'leadership consultant' at the Blues, Clark might just be the secret weapon behind the next big thing in Australian sport.
"I've got some off-field experience and I've got some on-field experience and basically I try and bring all that to the table and help people develop themselves and be effective in what they’re trying to do," Clark told AFL.com.au.
"What I've really enjoyed about working with Mat [Buck] is that he sees the big picture, he takes a long-term view and he's really happy to put in the effort to allow the players to develop across all areas of the game.
"It's quite easy for coaches to over-play their hand in this realm and they end up having a leadership group or people that are meant to be in leadership roles but they don't get the opportunity to put it into practice because someone’s too heavy-handed above them.
"I've seen him really embrace this and hand opportunities and responsibilities over to the playing group. I think they’ve responded really well to that."
The Blues appointed the then-24-year-old McKay as captain ahead of the 2025 season, with then-22-year-old Mimi Hill installed as vice-captain.
It was a signal of a new era at Carlton, with the club navigating the fallout of a rough few years that culminated in an external review and the departure of longstanding coach Daniel Harford.
Harford's eventual successor, Buck credits McKay and Hill as a key reason why the Blues are backing up last year’s finals appearance with another one in 2026.
"I probably don’t talk about Abbie McKay and Mimi Hill enough but their leadership at our football club has been outstanding for a long period of time," he said during round 11.
"They model consistency, they model the high-performance habits we want from our playing group. They bring infectious energy as well - well, Mimi brings infectious energy, Abbie's a real leader and staunch. They've been absolutely fantastic over a long period of time and I think we're seeing from their leadership everybody else sort of being able to grow as well.
"We're led by Belinda Clarke who is an icon of women's sport, so our leadership structure and the way [McKay and Hill] have gone about it is outstanding."
Clark notes that McKay and Hill have both come a long way since they first took the reigns, noting their wildly different but complementary personalities.
"Abbie leads in a way that's really authentic for her. She brings people along with her. She'd prefer not to be out the front making big speeches – she's more than capable of doing it, but that's not her jam," Clark said.
"She does a lot of work in the background. She's got a great connection with the players. She plays in a way that's inspiring.
"I think the first step was to get Abbie to understand that Abbie was really good, and that she had something to offer this group as a leader.
"Mimi is a different personality to Abbie, but the two of them together complement each other, and sort of take the load from each other as required.
"So they work terrifically in tandem, but they're both exceptional leaders in their own right."
As for what the Blues' AFLW team can learn from the longstanding success of the Australian Women's Cricket Team, one theme translates particularly well.
"Honesty," Clark said.
"To me, leadership is all about action. It's important that you understand in which direction and what am I putting my energy into. So that honesty is absolutely critical. The ability to say 'I got that wrong' or 'I need your help' – they're good signs of leaders that don't try and hide thing when they're not going well, and don't try to do it all themselves.
"I think the Australian women's team, what it's done really well, is they’re really clear on who they are, what they want to be, and they're more than happy to continue to challenge themselves to stay ahead of the pack.
"[Over the past few years, Carlton has] totally transformed themselves, really. I think having the courage to undertake a review when things weren't maybe what they wanted them to be and find a way to put some structures in place and then back those structures and systems over time.
"[They haven't] quickly taken shortcuts, what they've done is they've invested, they've kept their core coaching group together, they've kept the core group of players together. I think that's critical in developing a high-performing team. I've admired how they've gone about it.
"I think it's really important that you've got the courage to be honest and admit when things aren't going well. And they've been really good at that. They've been really open to acknowledging when they get things right and also acknowledging when they could be doing things better."
