It took one pre-game warm-up at a Fremantle AFLW game in 2019 for Garrick Ibbotson to realise that the burgeoning AFL Women’s competition was something he wanted to be a part of.
After 177 AFL games over more than a decade at Fremantle, Ibbotson has taken the next step of his footballing career as Freo’s new AFLW backline coach.
Ibbotson has had his fair share of exciting moments from his time as a player between 2007 and 2017, but he said he has also been struck by the passion of Freo’s AFLW team.
“I went down last year into the changerooms at Freo Oval for a game and that was the main tipping point for wanting to be a part of the program,” Ibbotson said.
“Even speaking to the girls when I was at Fremantle three years ago, you could see how excited they all were to be a part of something new in the AFLW program.
“You can still see how much enjoyment they get from the game and how keen they all are to be at the footy club.
“Even at the moment, they haven’t properly started their pre-season yet but there’s about 20 players at the club right now doing a voluntary gym session together.
“You can see how keen they all are to be involved and it’s something I’ll pick up on and roll with when I start as a coach.”
Ibbotson has embraced fatherhood since retiring from football, with his daughter Matilda now almost two years old.
He said it was important that his daughter would be able to have the opportunity to play any sport she wanted, thanks in part to the work of the current generation of female footballers.
“It’s great that she has the option now to play if she wants to,” Ibbotson said.
“A lot of the girls that are at the footy club, who have played in the AFLW for the past few years, they didn’t have that option, through no fault of their own.
“As much as they would have loved to play footy growing up, it got to the point where they were stuck and had nowhere to go.
“Now Matilda has that option to play footy down the track and it’s just nice that she has the choice.”
