TUCKED in the bowels of GMHBA Stadium is a quiet, hidden oasis.

There's a fair chance half the admin staff have visited it before, or even know it's there, but for those in need, the Geelong parents' room has been a godsend.

A softly lit room, with breastfeeding booths, change tables, a fridge to store milk or food, a microwave, books, toys, beautiful Indigenous artwork on the walls in pastel colours depicting the stories of the mums of the club, and even a toddler-sized toilet in the same stall as an adult version.

On any given AFLW training day, there'll be a handful of young children occupying the space, under the watchful eye of a nanny or two.

Over the years, the Cats AFLW squad has had more players give birth than any other, and it's no surprise given the resources available, while players who are non-birthing partners (Julia Crockett-Grills, Nic Stevens among others) are welcome to utilise the babysitting services, too.

Geelong has made a conscious decision to allocate a portion of its AFLW soft cap to supporting players and staff who have young children.

It's a move that's keeping parents in the game for longer.

Long-term assistant coach Elise Coventry is due at Christmas with her third baby, and her older two sons – who are five and two – have been born while she has worked at the club in various coaching roles over the years.

Hamish (now two) was born the day before the 2024 pre-season, and Coventry was back coaching five weeks later. It was common to see a trainer rocking his pram on the sidelines when they weren't running water, while Coventry didn't think twice about taking a quick break from the track to breastfeed on the sidelines.

Coventry and husband Zane hail from the Wangaratta area, with no family in Geelong. It meant as Hamish grew older, when he needed to accompany mum to work, he graduated to the care of the nannies in the parents' room.

"The boys have basically just grown up around the club. When they were little-little, they'll come in with me, but we've got a fantastic daycare and nanny services that help support it. You just juggle it," Coventry told AFL.com.au.

"If they're with me, they're with me, and they're pretty familiar with the place, otherwise they're watching games from home and trying to find me on the TV.

"Firstly, Geelong just have a really good understanding of what it's like to be a mother, and not expecting the world at all times, and understanding that when you're not at the club, you're busy parenting, and not loading too much work on those off days.

"My youngest, Hamish, he's spent a bit of time in the parents' room this year, and he just loves it. It's his little playroom. The players will sneak in and out to say hello and give him lollies.

"We're really encouraged to bring along family to away trips if we need to. The support's been incredible, and I think Geelong probably lead the way in that at the minute."

Coventry said some extra support for mums and parents who give birth should go some way in boosting the number of female coaches at the elite level of the game.

"Clubs have to be accepting that particularly if you want former players at the end of their careers, they're often starting or in the middle of young families, so it's about getting the right structure in place to support working mums," Coventry said.

"You have to sacrifice a lot as it is, and if the club's not there to support it, then it's going to be a very difficult thing to do. You'll just lose too many women from the roles. It's very important to get the structures in place to support primary carers who have young children to stay in the game."

Ruck coach Kate Darby retired from playing for Geelong at the end of last year, and gave birth to her second child, Lily, two months ago.

While admittedly a rare case, she felt comfortable enough to return to the club just two weeks after giving birth, for one training session and a game per week.

"Lily is eight weeks old, and last week's final was her fifth game of football. My first game back, she was two weeks old. I coached at 40 weeks pregnant, then had her," Darby said.

"They had a couple of interstate games, which I didn't go to, then first game back, she was two weeks. I was going to be sitting at home watching it anyway, so I may as well watch it from the coaches box. My mum has Lily in the social club, and I'm able to zip down, give her a feed, then back again.

"When they're at that age, all you need to do is be able to be there to feed them. I'm lucky to have the support from not only the club, but Mum was able to come in and look after her while I'm trying to look after the rucks."

Back in her playing days, Darby was the first Cat to fall pregnant, giving birth to Ella in March of 2021, and returning to play the following year.

"When I first got pregnant, I think both myself and the club were like, 'What does this look like?' I didn't get a contract at the start, and there was a lot of confusion. They weren't sure if I wanted to play, it was probably expected that I wanted to finish up because I was having a baby," Darby said.

"The fact we've come so far in how that process works, and the girls know that as soon as that happens, they're supported and what is there for them if they want to continue – it's so nice to see the change that's happened.

"I was lucky enough to be part of bringing the parents' room together, and Ella used to think it was her room. I spoke at the opening of that room, and I knew I was really grateful for it, but the emotion that came out – you can just tell it's not a club ticking a box, it's the fact they've put the money and thought process behind it.

"I was there on Monday with the little one to change her, and there were five kids, two nannies, it's a happening place.

"We would lose so many people if we didn't have access to that – it's players, physios, doctors, Dom (Condo, head of footy), the head of the whole department – the fact we've got that support from the club to bring the little ones in if we're the primary carer and need assistance.

"I'm not using the nanny with my latest one at the minute, because she's so little, she just sits in her carrier, but they're really flexible and understanding that I might not make it to a meeting in time because I've had a poo explosion."

Head of AFLW Condo has experienced first-hand Geelong's attitude to parenting, appointed to her role despite being 30 weeks pregnant with her first child, Arlo.

"I told (CEO) Steve Hocking I was interested in the role, but was pregnant. He was very excited for me, and said it didn't change anything, but he was going to go back to the club and have some conversations with exec, and we'll work with you around when you're ready to come back. I was extremely grateful and surprised, but now I'm in the four walls, it doesn't surprise me," she said.

"We moved down from Melbourne to Geelong when Arlo was six or seven weeks old – wouldn't recommend – and when he was about 10 weeks, I started integrating back, and officially started when he was about 14 weeks old on a part-time basis – which for my role, is being at the club when players are.

"Being from Adelaide, we don't have any family support here, but we've got an amazing parents room and access to nanny services. I was able to utilise that. I worked in men's programs for over 10 years before Geelong, and I honestly think if I was still in that space, I wouldn't have access to these sorts of services – the AFLW is actually leading the way in supporting women in sport."

There's no question that the issue of supporting pregnant players from a list perspective is complicated.

Clubs have the ability to make players inactive for a number of reasons – including pregnancy – and if a post-partum player is physically and mentally ready to return mid-season, there are provisions in place that allow a player to do so, and the replacement player will still hold onto their contract for the remainder of the season.

As laid out in the collective bargaining agreement, pregnant players are covered from a financial perspective for 12 months, regardless of their contract status.

The grey area appears to be for those who are both pregnant and out of contract, with no policy in place to compel clubs to offer those in that situation another deal. Outside of football, it is legal for companies to make people on maternity leave redundant if going through a restructure. Whether it is moral, is another question.

The list size of 30, the age, form and fitness of the player before pregnancy, and the benefits of keeping said players involved in the club are all things that are considered.

Condo was at pains not to comment specifically on Gold Coast's recent decision to not offer a contract to the pregnant Georgia Clayden, but agreed it was a complicated issue.

"All of us here, especially personally, you want to be able to support women wanting to have a family and careers and come back," she said.

"I think this has probably brought up an interesting topic around what does it look like from an AFL support, what do the rules look like around list sizes, because we can never assume what's going on behind closed doors at clubs, you want to give them the benefit, we don't know what conversations have been had, we don't know where players are at in their careers.

"But I think there's so much more we can do to allow players to get that support whilst also making sure it doesn't impact what we're trying to do on the field. The list sizes are small. We don't want to rush these women back either, it's a high-contact sport, it's quick, it's intense, to think they need to be ready to run out 12 months later, it's a big ask as well."

Geelong defender Chantel Emonson came back from maternity leave this year, having given birth to daughter Luna last season, and is averaging a career-high 15.6 disposals.

Emonson, 33, had an existing contract running to the end of this season.

"She's just been unbelievable. I'm in such awe of how she's able to do it. I think if you asked her at the beginning of this year, she would have had doubts around whether she could get there, and she put in so much work in order to be ready to go. They're elite athletes, it's their passion," Condo said.

"She was lucky that her body allowed her to push and to do it. Full credit to her. I think there will be situations where not everyone has that experience – it's really hard to use any player as a benchmark as to what it should look like, because every person has a different experience post-partum, and we need to support that.

"We have education sessions around female health. There's a fine line between not bombarding with information and understanding our role with it all, that pre-season period is when we tend to have a lot of our education sessions, and female health is definitely one of them.

"We have amazing physios who will assess where players are at on an individual level, and will refer to pelvic health specialists if needed. Anyone who's had a bub is certainly int that category. We have a responsibility to have some form of education for players, and then work with them on an individual basis if extra support if needed."

Coventry was particularly effusive in her praise of Emonson, who has joined the Cats' mum club.

"It's brilliant to have mums around, particularly having Chan join us this year – you meet eyes sometimes when you hear some of the younger players tell us they're tired, or they only got 10 hours sleep," she said with a laugh.

"It's nice to have people who know what you're going through. Even little things, like when your kid's sick, there's someone you can talk to who gets it. It doesn't fix anything, but they have an understanding ear.

"Chan's return has been one of my favourite things about the season, to be honest. She's done incredibly well. The support the club's provided her in pregnancy and post-pregnancy to keep her nice and fit – without pressuring her – but giving her every opportunity to stay around and be involved.

"When she was ready, we were able to help her make a return. She's made a lot of sacrifices to get it done, but it's paid a lot of dividends. When you hear her speak, she's incredibly grateful, but we're grateful that she decided to return, and she's probably come back in career-best form."

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