THE PIECES are starting to fall into place at IKON Park.

With the 2023 AFLW pre-season underway, and Carlton's brand-new coaching panel - plus its Head of AFLW - being announced, things have now settled after a period of upheaval.

For Ash Naulty, who was appointed as the Club's permanent Head of AFLW after holding the interim role in recent months, the lessons that the Club has taken will be vital to the program's success moving forward.

“[The review] showed us that we need education around the actions and behaviours that follow high performance,” Naulty said. 

“The Club’s responsibility on that front is to be able to provide the resources for that high performance environment.” 

The more time Naulty spent in the interim position, the more he wanted to continue working in the role. He had been in the position during a crucial period for the Blues, including the Sign and Trade Period and the AFLW Draft which saw a number of new players arrive.

With Naulty having previously been involved in VFL operations, he’s no stranger to the ins and outs of the football world (particularly at IKON Park), with the aspiration to take his career a step further and lay the foundations for a new era for the Game Changers.

“What really drew me to the program was just the appetite and the willingness of the athletes to want to get better and to be a part of a program that really wanted to succeed, and also, the Club buy-in to see that program really elevate itself,” he said. 

“I stepped into the role as an interim from VFL football operations and from there on, I got my hands dirty with the program and lapped up the initial part of Sign and Trade Period, then having the navigate through the draft and start to talk about the general operations, look through the review findings and look at ways we can continue to elevate the program.” 

A very familiar face for Naulty is that of Mathew Buck, who worked closely with Naulty in their time together with the Carlton Reserves.

Buck's appointment as AFLW Senior Coach was the first of many in an attempt to instil a coaching panel focused on high performance while building a safe and motivating environment.

“The real key focus for us when we were looking at coaches was that all coaches could complement each other with their variety of skillsets, and also complement what ‘Bucky’ was looking to achieve in his first year of his coaching journey with the AFLW,” he said. 

"We're aligning it more to a high performance mindset and program . . . one of the things that aligns with that is the education around the game plan and being really clear on the plan.” 

A key alteration to the AFLW program this season - outside of personnel - is the shift to a day schedule, which has been a welcome change to all those who have been dealing with late-night finishes for seven seasons.

Naulty said that it was a priority for the group, making it a reality after surveying the team to judge what would work best from a mindset and routine perspective, with results already beginning to show.

“We landed on transitioning towards more daytime hours – we thought there were so many benefits for the athletes for their own wellbeing but also aligning it to high performance, being able to recover really well,” he said. 
 
“We’re pretty happy with the schedule: the immediate feedback over the first two weeks has been really positive and the players have really understood it’s like a work environment.

"We had the majority of our list hit PBs in our Yo-Yo test, and the immediate feedback has been around the professional environment - having the structure and understanding of what goes into every day - has been a real positive."

As well as having a more intense - but rewarding - schedule at the Club, what it has also allowed for is more crossover between the AFL and AFLW sides. 

“There’s a real open door policy with the AFL program. The relationship between ‘Vossy’ and ‘Bucky’ is really promising, and all those positions that are hybrid across the program or just being accessible and full time, we’ve just seen those relationships have been able to form,” he said. 

“We have great minds and great professionals at the Club, so the more opportunities our AFLW staff have to tap into them, we think it’ll be a huge benefit.”