Geelong’s AFLW pre-season will officially commence tonight.

AFLW Coach Paul Hood expects Geelong will have around 20 sessions before Christmas, with an initial two-week induction period to kick things off.

 “We’ve got about six weeks where we do about three sessions a week, and we’ve got a couple of skill development sessions in this induction period,” Hood said speaking to krockfootball.com.au.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but we can make some big gains in the next few months, I think.

“We look to grow all aspects of our game, and the focus now is on the decision-making, and making the right choice more often when we have the footy.

“We’ve had a really good period of skill development in the last month, which has set us up to hit the ground running in pre-season.”

Hood expects it to be at least a few more weeks until Geelong will have its full list at training with the Cats’ five new draftees; Darcy Moloney, Laura Gardiner, Olivia Barber, Stephanie Williams and Carly Remmos currently undertaking year 12 exams.

“The draftees come in on a limited basis during their exam period, so we only see them a couple of times a week, which is fine,” Hood said.

“Exams will be over before we know it, and then they’ll be training full-on with the rest of the squad.

“We’ve seen all of them to a small degree so far, other than Liv Barber, who’s up in New South Wales.

“But she’ll be finishing her school commitments earlier than the Victorian players, so we’ll be seeing her pretty soon.”

Geelong has also welcomed some new additions to their coaching ranks with former player Daniel Lowther replacing Natalie Wood at the team’s midfield coach.

“It’s been a great get for us to get Daniel into the program,” Hood said.

“He comes with a lot of current knowledge, and I’m looking forward to him working with the group.”

Aaron Black also returns to the coaching setup as the forwardline coach having last held the role in 2019.

“Blacky started a family last year and was pretty busy,” Hood said.

“But now that things have settled down; he’s got a business where he’s working from home, so he’s got a lot more time to put back into football.”

Josh Finch rounds out the changes with a promotion to oversee the Geelong backline, with star AFL Cat Tom Stewart taking a step back following the recent birth of his first child.