FORMER Australian Diamonds star Kim Ravaillion has joined the welfare team at Melbourne Football Club, months after announcing her retirement from netball. 

The 31-year-old started with the Demons on Monday in her first role since calling time on her decorated Super Netball career last July. 

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Ravaillion ended her professional playing career where it started with the Queensland Firebirds, after returning to Brisbane in 2021, following a three-year stint with the now defunct Collingwood netball team.

The New South Wales product returned to Victoria in the second half of last year to live with her long-term fiancée, Western Bulldogs star Adam Treloar, and the couple's daughter, Georgie.

Ravaillion will work as the player development manager with the Demons' AFLW program, joining a department led by Reece Conca. 

The former Firebirds captain becomes the latest champion athlete from a different code to enter the welfare space in the AFL. 

Hawthorn promoted former Opals guard Jenni Screen to player development manager during the off-season after the Olympian initially joined the club in 2023 to work with the women's program at Waverley Park, before making a mark on Sam Mitchell’s squad in 2024 as leadership lead.

The welfare space has grown significantly across the past decade with former AFL players – Tony Brown (St Kilda), Shannon Byrnes (Geelong), Brent Prismall (Western Bulldogs), Ivan Maric (Richmond), Dylan Addison (Greater Western Sydney), Ben Mabon (Gold Coast) and Andrew Crowell (Brisbane) – filling roles as PDMs across the country.

Every club now has a dedicated Indigenous player welfare manager, including former players Matt Whelan (Melbourne), Jamie Bennell (Hawthorn), Jarrod Lienert (North Melbourne), Anthony Corrie (Brisbane) and Brady Grey (Collingwood).