A PERSONAL goal for Jess Sedunary has created a flexible pathway to coaching for West Coast's AFLW players. 

Already working with the club's academy and community arm, Sedunary had a desire to pursue coaching in her life after playing, but the time commitment required to complete a level two coaching course was proving to be a stumbling block. 

"My knowledge was that you had to coach a team for a whole entire season," Sedunary told womens.afl of what was holding her back initially. 

Between her commitments as an AFLW player and her job off the field, the ability to then jam in a full season of coaching on top just wasn't realistic, which presented as a huge obstacle in her career plans.  

"I was talking to Chad Morrison, who's my boss, he's a head of our female and girls academies program and he just said, surely there's a way around that," Sedunary said. 

"From there, we had a meeting with the (WA Football) Commission for something else, and I brought it up with them. (Former Australian cricketer) Nicole Bolton was working for them at the time, she got me in touch with the people that run the level two (accreditation course) here. And then from there it just kind of flourished." 

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The club itself was on board with creating an environment in which players could tick off their accreditation requirements. As a result, 11 other players decided to pursue their level two coaching course over the summer. 

"I think in our environment with AFLW where it's at, you've got to have this flexibility available," West Coast head of women's football Michelle Cowan said.  

"Then working with the footy commission as to how they could do their hours and everything like that, they're very supportive of getting more women in coaching. And if we've got to be flexible with the accreditation process, then it's really important that we support that." 

The group who signed on, which comprised of Sedunary, Aimee Schmidt, Belinda Smith, Charlie Thomas, Courtney Rowley, Emma Humphries, Sophie McDonald, Krstel Petrevski, Lauren Wakfer, Mikayla Western and Shanae Davison, undertook a condensed version of the theory portion. 

When it came to the practical experience, the Eagles opened up its Academy and junior programs as learning opportunities. 

"So, you only have to go for a half day, not a full day, to check off your theory for your level two, and then you join our under sixteens Academy program (for the practical), which is a couple nights a week and a Saturday morning," Sedunary explained. 

Some of the group have already taken their coaching further, including Davison who is working with Swan Districts in the WAFLW. 

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For Rowley, the initial call out to players to do the program was enticing, but seemed like a little too much to add to her workload, but ultimately she couldn't stay away. 

"I sort of thought about it for a while, because I've got like a lot on my plate at the moment with uni and all that. I was like, this is something that I could see myself doing in the future and also, I wanted to help my game," Rowley said.  

"So, I thought coaching and seeing it from another perspective could help that. When (Sedunary) first mentioned it I didn't actually initially do the first one… and then she sent a second message out, and I was like, you know what, I should just do it. So I just did it and I haven't looked back since." 

Rowley is enthusiastic about what her newfound coaching experience has added to what she can bring as a player. 

"In terms of football and knowledge of the game, and that sort of thing and maybe even my confidence, it's definitely helped," Rowley said. 

Not the only young player whose confidence has grown through the coaching pathway, Sedunary points to another teenager's ability to come out of her shell since. 

"Lauren Wakfer is a prime example. She's very giggly and just shy and quiet, and I just saw her evolve so much. I think it gives the girls a confidence they didn't think that they had," Sedunary said. 

"Coming into the AFLW program so you, you kind of feel like you're not sure how much you know. But then when you coach it, you start realising… 'Oh I actually do know what I'm talking about'. 

"(Wakfer) has impressed me the most because her whole demeanour changed when she coached. She'd go from giggling, having fun, to being really specific and direct with her voice. She's really surprised me." 

For the more experienced Evie Gooch, her journey to coaching has been a little different, but she has been an integral part of the group. 

An unfortunate wrist injury put the rebounding defender on the sidelines last season, so Gooch took on a development coaching role. 

"It was good, but it was also really difficult," Gooch said of balancing her coaching, rehabilitation, and work as a firefighter. 

"I learned a lot in terms of bouncing off the coaches, how to fit into that coaching role and step back as a player. I learned a lot in terms of just getting across the game plan, staying involved in that way." 

Now integrating back into the playing group, Gooch has a clear handle on how the side wants to play thanks to her experience in the coaches box last year.  

What she has observed over the off season is how much a coaching perspective has helped to develop the young Eagles who were involved. 

"With youth a lot of inexperience comes with that in terms of footy. And when things get hard and fast, and especially AFLW, it's so much quicker than our local leagues, for them to be able to stay composed, we've got a bit of experience now in terms of working with each other," Gooch said. 

In her off-field role, Cowan has observed that maturing and increased communication during preseason, not just with one another but the West Coast coaching panel. 

"They came back with greater empathy when it came to the coaches, to go 'Oh, now I know what you're actually going through'. So, when you go through those lived experiences of maybe trying to get a message out to a team when you're actually playing a game, you can understand the importance of the on-field communication between players," Cowan said. 

While it all began with a career goal for Sedunary, the skills learned through coaching have permeated the Eagles' playing group, fast-tracking the young side's chemistry and with the added hope that it will reflect on the field this year. 

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