THE CARLTON Football Club is pleased to welcome Nicole Callinan to the AFLW program as an assistant coach.

Callinan already has AFLW experience under her belt being an inaugural signing for the Western Bulldogs in 2017 and playing 24 games as a midfielder and small defender.

She was a member of the Dogs’ leadership group from 2017–2020 and was a player mentor for their Under 22 side in 2022. She also won a premiership with the club in 2018.

Callinan continues to play VFLW with the Darebin Falcons where she was named in the leadership group for the 2022 season and was most recently a development coach and player wellbeing mentor with St Kilda’s AFLW side.

Callinan said she was excited to step into a coaching role with the Game Changers.

“I was thrilled when Daniel Harford approached me with the opportunity to take on a coaching role,” Callinan said.

“The Carlton defenders are already known to be some of the best in the competition, so it is fantastic to be able to work with these players and help hone their craft.

“I’m looking forward to working with this group over the rest of pre-season and throughout the upcoming season.”

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Carlton General Manager of Women’s Football Brett Munro believes Callinan’s extensive football knowledge will shine as she steps into the backline coaching position.

“Nicole brings a wealth of AFLW knowledge to the program and will fit in seamlessly with the rest of our coaching staff,” Munro said.

“She has already started to build great relationships with the players and will undoubtably be a huge asset for the program, especially our defenders.

“Nicole is a welcome addition to the Game Changers and will work closely with Daniel Harford as we build towards season seven.

“She will be taking over the role of backline coach from Nic Newman who has had to scale back his commitments with AFLW pre-season taking place during the current AFL season.

Nic will continue to be part of the program in a development role when his AFL commitments allow.”