In the disciplined and innovative world of sport, Chloe McMillan recounts her journey, starting as a freshly graduated high schooler, to working for one of the biggest AFL Clubs in Australia. Serving as a development coach in the Club’s AFL program, Chloe’s story is one of patience, hard work, and authenticity.

Chloe’s story began as a freshly graduated high school student who was excited to continue her education in the sporting industry. Chloe shared, “after I graduated, I did a AFL Sports Ready traineeship at Hallam Senior College and worked in the Physical Education department. From there, I was grateful to join Champion Data through another AFL Sportsready Traineeship.” Chloe then spent five years assisting with data analysis, live game-coding for both AFL and VFL, and packaging up vision for AFL recruiters and State league clubs.

In 2017, Chloe saw that Collingwood had a volunteer coaching position available during the first year of the AFLW Competition. She explained, “three female coaches were given the opportunity to come in and gain exposure in the AFLW environment and I was lucky enough to get one of those spots which really ignited my passion for coaching and kickstarted my journey.”

From there, she was uplifted into a development coaching position with the AFLW team and then moved into an assistant coach role for the next two seasons. Chloe was then appointed as Collingwood’s VFLW Senior Coach at the end of 2019 and shared, “in our first season in 2020, we had a really good year in the VFLW having been undefeated, but unfortunately missed out on playing the Grand Final due to the COVID pandemic.”

In 2022, Chloe was selected for the AFL’s Women’s Coach Acceleration Program which paved a pathway for female coaches to gain experience within the Club’s AFL program. Chloe explained, “nine female coaches got roles across the league, and I was lucky enough to be offered a role and have remained in Collingwood’s men’s program ever since.”

Having worked her way up in the industry, when asked what skills and qualities she believes are needed, Chloe responded, “being able to build relationships is an important skill to have. You work very closely with the players, other coaches, and staff, so by building genuine relationships with them, you will execute your role much more efficiently and it makes the job much more fun. Another quality is also having confidence. This is something that I’m still working on, but I think because women are still finding their way into the industry, by building up your confidence, you’ll feel like you belong and there is a space for you.”

When asked what her proudest career achievements have been so far, she answered “from coaching in the women’s space, it would be seeing players come into the VFLW & AFLW system and help them develop to better players and people. To see those players get opportunities at the AFLW level from being in our program is awesome. While being involved in the Men’s programs, it’s two-sided, playing a small part in developing our young group of players to have an impact at AFL and VFL level, while also continuing to create pathways for more female coaches to join the industry and have a successful career.”

Having started her career at a young age, Chloe shared what helped her the most coming into the industry. “Having strong mentors and influences around me throughout my career has helped me so much. Early in my journey, having people who believed and supported me, especially being a female in the industry, helped me build my confidence and made me so much better at my role.” She continues to share that a mistake she made early in her career was “holding myself back and thinking that I wasn’t capable enough in some areas. It comes in time but learning and understanding you deserve your place is important. It might be hard at the start, but having the strength and courage to get out of that mindset will change your perspective and allow you to grow.”

Chloe also emphasised that everyone should “get started in whatever capacity you can because you will never know when the next opportunity will come up. For me, starting coaching at 21, some people might see that as young, but the quicker you can get in the industry, the more experience you will gain, and it will only make you better. It’s been a whirlwind of a journey to date, but to be now almost 30 years – old and be in the position I am, I’m extremely grateful for the people and club who took a chance on me early on”.

Directing the conversation to focus on female empowerment within the sporting industry, when asked to share an experience where Chloe witnessed women supporting women, she talked about being in Collingwood’s Women in Black and White group and an event they hosted involving Laura Kane earlier this year. “Being a part of the Women and Black and White group and having Laura Kane speak with the women who work alongside us comes front of mind. Seeing someone like Laura in her position and the colleagues in our four walls shows how capable we are and it’s inspiring. Many of the women we work with daily can and will make so much impact on the industry, so having a place for us to come together and pick Laura’s brain was great to be a part of.” Chloe then shared how women can support other women within the workplace. “I think it’s important to celebrate each other and highlight the amazing things we see each other accomplish. This also goes beyond our Club by recognising other women in the industry and creating conversations for everyone to participate.”

Chloe will be the last article for Club’s Women in Black and White staff profile in 2024, as the group looks ahead to continue to profile the women and non-binary people of the Club in 2025.