He is one of the game’s most prolific forwards of all time, having dominated the early 2000s as a two-time Coleman Medallist.

However, Brendan Fevola’s love for the game looks very different in the current day, thriving in his role as Richmond’s AFLW assistant coach (forwards), having been elevated to the position after spending last season as a specialists coach (forwards).

Fevola’s work with the AFLW program goes well beyond the footy field, as he is one of the game’s biggest advocates, and it stems from him being a dad of four girls.

“Coming from a father of four daughters, I've got the common question all my life: 'Are you having a boy? When are you going to have a boy? They need to play footy.' Well, no, they don't, because girls can play footy now,” Fevola explained on the In Their Words podcast.

“AFLW, what it means to me is, it gives an opportunity for girls who, when I was playing back in the day, they’d play up to under-14s or something and then they weren't allowed to play anymore. There was nowhere else for them to go.

“I think that the pathway that the AFLW's creating and you girls playing for young girls, especially like my little Tobi, like she wants to play footy. She would never have thought that back then, say, 25 years ago.”

Fevola explained how much joy working with the Richmond AFLW team has brought him, as he comes in every day looking forward to helping the team get better.

“When I say it’s changed my life, you may think 'ok sure', but it has,” he said.

“I get so much joy walking in and seeing you girls every day, and I leave work to get to Punt Road, and I’m so pumped to walk in.

“We train, then I go home, and I’m happy…it makes me happy.”

While transitioning from player to coach isn’t always easy, Fevola’s coaching philosophy stays true to how he played the game - encouraging his players to get out there, have fun, and play with freedom.

“The biggest thing I tell kids, especially now, and I tell you girls as well, is to have fun,” Fevola said.  

“I know the coaches will have systems and all the ins and outs of a game [plan] and you've played it in your head 400 times. I obviously know my structures and what we needed to do, but as soon as I played it in my head too much, I played the game out, and I was cooked.

“So, I would just go out and just have fun, get out there and let your instinct take over. I think it's different for a forward, because forwards play on instinct. So, I always say, hey, go out there and have fun.”