Natalie Wood (coach)

Natalie Wood is a former Australian rules footballer and current senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW).

Playing career
Wood played 190 games for the Darebin Falcons and Melbourne University in the Victorian Women's Football League, and represented the Western Bulldogs in women's exhibition matches in 2013 and 2014.

Coaching career
After retiring as a player in 2014, Wood joined the Geelong Football Club as a part-time assistant coach for the club's inaugural women's team that joined the VFL Women's (VFLW) in 2017. Wood was then appointed to a full-time coaching role with Geelong as an assistant coach for the club's first season in the national AFLW competition in 2019. As part of this role, she was also promoted to senior coach of Geelong's VFLW team. This appointment meant that Wood was the first woman to attain a full-time coaching role with the club.

On 18 March 2022, Wood was appointed as the inaugural coach of the Essendon Football Club's AFL Women's (AFLW) team.

Coaching statistics

 * Statistics are correct to the end of the 2023 season

! colspan=2| Career totals !! 21 !! 10 !! 11 !! 0 !! 47.6% !! colspan=2|
 * 2022 (S7) || || 10 || 4 || 6 || 0 || 40.0% || 10 || 18
 * 2023 || || 11 || 6 || 5 || 0 || 54.6% || 7 || 18
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * 2023 || || 11 || 6 || 5 || 0 || 54.6% || 7 || 18
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * }

Personal life
As well as full-time coaching, Wood is a high school teacher.