{"id":118003,"date":"2026-03-19T10:40:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T23:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:40:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T23:40:41","slug":"united-to-open-season-without-moody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/","title":{"rendered":"United to open season without Moody"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBL1 Women\u2019s head coach Megan Moody will take a medical-related leave of absence for the start of the 2026 season as she undergoes preventative surgery for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Following medical advice, Moody confirmed on Wednesday she will step away from the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the start of the 2026 NBL1 season, I will be absent from my role as head coach of the Geelong United Women\u2019s team while I undergo a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38, I have been closely monitored by my GP and breast specialist for the past three years. Now at 42, and after careful medical advice, I\u2019ve chosen to take this preventative step for my long-term health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant coach Simon Nicholson will lead the side in Moody’s absence. Nicholson, the club’s coach and athlete development manager, is also the interim head coach for Geelong’s youth league girls team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have complete confidence the program will continue to move forward in a really positive way,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n

Geelong United confirmed Moody will remain involved behind the scenes during her recovery and expressed full support for her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully support [Moody] during this period and look forward to welcoming her back to the program once she is ready to return,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re incredibly proud of our women\u2019s program and have full confidence in the group as they head into the NBL1 South season.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her first season as head coach in 2025, Moody led Geelong to an undefeated home-and-away season before falling agonisingly short of a championship.<\/p>\n

Her absence comes as Geelong prepares for its season opener at the Geelong Arena next weekend against Kilsyth. The clash will tip off at 5pm on Saturday 28 March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBL1 Women\u2019s head coach Megan Moody will take a medical-related leave of absence for the start of the 2026 season as she undergoes preventative surgery for breast cancer. Following medical advice, Moody confirmed on Wednesday she will step away from the role. \u201cFor the start of the 2026 NBL1 season, I will be absent from […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":118004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-118003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnited to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"United to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bellarine Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paddy Sinnott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paddy Sinnott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paddy Sinnott\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c5dc7ac584e30473795132b06c507f60\"},\"headline\":\"United to open season without Moody\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":301,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/\",\"name\":\"United to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Moody led United to an undefeated home-and-away season in 2025. Photo: Supplied\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"United to open season without Moody\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bellarine Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Bellarine Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":291,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Bellarine Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c5dc7ac584e30473795132b06c507f60\",\"name\":\"Paddy Sinnott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paddy Sinnott\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/author\\\/paddysinnott\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"United to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times","description":"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"United to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times","og_description":"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/","og_site_name":"Bellarine Times","article_published_time":"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paddy Sinnott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paddy Sinnott","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/"},"author":{"name":"Paddy Sinnott","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/person\/c5dc7ac584e30473795132b06c507f60"},"headline":"United to open season without Moody","datePublished":"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/"},"wordCount":301,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/","name":"United to open season without Moody - Bellarine Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-18T23:40:41+00:00","description":"Geelong United coach Megan Moody will take medical leave to undergo preventative breast cancer surgery at start of NBL1 season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-281__15997.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Moody led United to an undefeated home-and-away season in 2025. Photo: Supplied"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/united-to-open-season-without-moody\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"United to open season without Moody"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/","name":"Bellarine Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization","name":"Bellarine Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":291,"height":38,"caption":"Bellarine Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/person\/c5dc7ac584e30473795132b06c507f60","name":"Paddy Sinnott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59393bc46d5cfe5d9a7cf0c1e3bba713e72dc52967cd04c22770b05ebcd1a1eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paddy Sinnott"},"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/author\/paddysinnott\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118003"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=118003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}