Canberra United mentor Heather Garriock will balance three kids under the age of five and a new team this summer as she tries to establish her coaching identity.
Garriock gave birth to her third child last month and after a short break went straight back to recruiting, as the second-year W-League coach looks to start again with a fresh roster.
Canberra United coach Heather Garriock has three children under the age of five.
Photo: Jamila Toderas
The former Matildas great admits she made mistakes in her rookie campaign and has says next season she'll back herself more and coach with the same confidence that earned her 130 international caps.
Garriock knows it won't be easy with a six-month old baby at home but she's vowed to turns things around at United following their worst season in club history.
Matildas star Ellie Carpenter is number one on the retention list but Garriock is waiting for the salary cap to be confirmed before she signs anyone.
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"Our depth in our squad struggled last year so Im just trying to get the right balance. Ill keep some but let go quite a few," Garriock said.
"Coaching is the easy part, recruiting is the tough part. A lot of players dont want to come to Canberra, so its about trying to sell the whole package rather than just the playing part.
"There's the atmosphere and the fans and that great playing environment but there's also the off field stuff, we can really develop players from a marketing point of view.
"When do Sydney players ever get in the paper every week or on the news every week? Their profiles and personal brands can grow so much bigger here than anywhere else."
Garriock admits there was some self-doubt in her first season and said she took too much advice from outside sources, but has promised greater stability within the squad this season.
"I was trying to find my identity and I dont think my identity as a coach is much different to me as a player and I was a winner as a player," Garriock said.
"In your first season youre not sure and when youre not sure you second guess yourself and as you saw there was quite a lot of change and rather than seeing the same team every week.
"I was trying to please everyone and keep everyone happy when in actual fact that's not me as a person. I had outside things that were deterring my decisions but that won't be the case this year.
"I compromised me as a person and my values last season and tried to be a coach I wasnt. Ill be Heather Garriock this season and do things my way and I think success will follow."
Garriock's family while she was pregnant with Astin. L-R: Heather, Noa, Kaizen and Matt.
It is anticipated Garriock will have $300,000 to play with this season as the minium wage rises to $13,000 under a new collective bargaining agreement.
Garriock said the recruitment process was made all the more difficult because she can't sign players on multi-year deals, as contracts are done season on season.
"We need to start to pay the players what they deserve and the minimum wage going up is great because it means the top wage is going to be quite significant," Garriock said.
"It means players start to become professional and I dont need to worry about them working jobs, its a full-time gig and we can train during the day."
Garriock will be a coach to 23 players and mother to three children this season with Kaizen (5), Noa (3) and infant Astin keeping her busy off the pitch.
"My husband Matt is very supportive but the most important thing for me is a having a flexible and understanding organisation," Garriock said.
"I think it's still prevalent in a lot of organisations where they just don't understand it and they see people with kids as a deficiency rather than accepting most people have families.
"The key thing for me is my two bosses have a family, Scott O'Donnell and Phil Brown understand it and have been exceptional and the board have been supportive since I told them I was pregnant."
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Eamonn Tiernan is a sports reporter with The Canberra Times
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