Grovedale premiership player-coach secures top VFLW job

THE Geelong Football Club has turned to a 22-year-old to coach the club’s reserves women’s side in 2025, following the appointment of Taylah Hassett to the role of VFLW Senior Coach.

Hassett is a well-known name in the local footballing community, making her way through the football pathways in Geelong and the Barwon region at clubs like Colac Imperials and the Grovedale Tigers, where she won a Division 1 premiership this year as a player-coach.

“We are thrilled to welcome Taylah to the Club as our new VFLW Senior Coach,” Cats assistant general manager Brett Johnson said.

“Taylah has an impressive resume as player and coach, she is a young emerging leader in the community, and we believe her connection to AFL Barwon and the development pathways in the greater Geelong and Colac areas will be of great benefit to our program.

“The Club would also like to take the opportunity to thank Elise [Coventry] for her time leading our VFLW program for the past two seasons, in addition to the roles she has held with our AFLW program and Next Generation Academy.”

Hassett also spent time as a Geelong Falcons player and coach, taking on the mantle of coaching one of the V/Line Cup competition squads.

She spent time involved in the Geelong Cats Women’s Football Coach Development Program this year.

Hassett’s culture-first approach to coaching will look to provide the Cats with a strong consistency during the 2025 campaign.

“Coming into a new program I’m really keen to put my mark on it in terms of creating that culture and hopefully our performances on the field just go from there,” Hassett said.

Geelong finished at the bottom of the VFLW ladder in 2024 with just three wins from 14 outings.

Coventry leaves the Cats to focus on her growing family commitments and her role as an assistant with the club’s AFLW team.