Alastair Clarkson’s appointment to North Melbourne last week has crystalised a new meaning of the old adage “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Despite having coached AFL at the junior elite level I do not think my long-term career will be AFL coaching and, as a woman, my acceptance in AFL circles has not been effortless. So apologies Clarko, but it’s not you who I see and admire or whose role I aspire to, it’s Sonja Hood.
Hood and trailblazers like Peggy O’Neal, Kate Roffey and Kylie Watson-Wheeler are all presidents of AFL clubs who I follow with much more interest than I have followed any male AFL president.
