Essendon coach Natalie Wood eager to see recruit Georgia Clarke in 2023 season

Branxholme-raised Georgia Clarke landed at The Hangar as a delisted free agent after five seasons at rival Geelong.

Bombers coach Natalie Wood, who grew up in Warrnambool, is excited to team up with a fellow south-west export who played 19 matches during her time at the Cats.

Clarke lives, works and studies in Geelong and is commuting to training in Melbourne four times a week.

"I coached Georgia in Vic Country under 18s and I was also at Geelong's AFLW program when they drafted her," she told The Standard.

"We were really keen to get her across to the Bombers. She's an athletic, unassuming tall defender who can also go forward.

"We saw Georgia fit a real need for us; we needed to strengthen our defence and having had four or five years in the system Georgia has really developed physically and has a really good game sense as well."

Essendon will again play one of its five home games at Warrnambool's Reid Oval after a successful debut at the venue last year.

The Bombers will host Geelong on Sunday, October 8.

"We are really excited we've got four home games at Windy Hill this year - it's going to be terrific to get professional football back to Windy Hill and reconnect with so many old Essendon fans," Wood said.

"To have our fifth home game at Warrnambool is important for us as a club and for me personally because it's so important to keep showcasing what women and athletes can do, not just to young girls but young boys too."

Wood said it was "good to come back home" and the club was eager to bring elite sport to grassroots venues.

"Last year Warrnambool turned it on with the weather and the people and I think also playing Geelong, there's a good following of Geelong supporters as well as Essendon supporters so it was just great to get a passionate amount of people in the crowd," she said.

"I thought both teams put on a good performance as well. It will be good to come back and consolidate that and see if there's things we can do even more to promote the game down in the region."

Essendon finished with a 4-6 win-loss record in its first campaign.

Wood is excited to see what the club can produce this year.

"I talk about it a bit in terms of our first season being a year of a lot of firsts and celebrations, and so it should be," she said.

"It was the first time in 150 years the club had a women's team, so to celebrate our first signings, our first draft picks, our first win, our first travel.

"It was a great experience for everyone to enjoy but internally we've been speaking about how important this second year is because it's when we start to really establish and hone in on who are we, what's our culture, what's our standards and what are our behaviours."

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