WHEN footballers are listed as out of the team as 'managed', it is often just another way of saying they are resting.

But what should have been next to Geelong defender Bec Goring's name for the Cats' round four NAB AFL Women's clash with St Kilda was 'on-stage with one of Australia's brightest indie stars'.

Instead of trying to shut down the Saints' best forwards last month, the 26-year-old was playing guitar for Gordi (real name Sophie Payten), a favourite of alternative youth radio station Triple J.

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The multi-talented Goring has juggled her different careers since she was running around for Melbourne University's women team while completing a music degree.

But this year she has had a conundrum, after first being part of Gordi's band for a live-streamed show at the Sydney Opera House last June.

Goring met Payten while on-tour with Alex Lahey, another alternative favourite, in 2019.

The two hit it off, and now Goring is a key member of the Gordi experience as live music continues to rebound across Australia with COVID-19 restrictions easing.

"The club were really good about (needing to miss a match), which they have been throughout my AFLW and VFLW career so far," Goring said.

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"We had those conversations early in the pre-season and that there was a potential for things to change.

"I made it very clear my priority is my music career at this point in time.

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"I started music as a young kid but it wasn't really until I started studying music at uni that I thought it was more of a career thing."

Goring played high school football in Geelong, but pathways for female players a decade ago were almost non-existent.

Being reintegrated back into football at university simply as a way to balance out "drinking beers" led her to captaining the Cats in the VFLW before the club's entry into the AFLW as an expansion team in 2019.

Goring even had the honour of being Geelong's first AFLW skipper after filling in for injured captain Melissa Hickey when the Cats edged Collingwood by a point in their debut match.

While Geelong qualified for a preliminary final in 2019, the Cats are enduring a winless season as they sit on the bottom of the ladder.

As well as playing with Gordi and Alex Lahey, Goring released a solo album last year and will also appear in upcoming shows with Hayley Mary, lead singer of indie rock band The Jezabels.