IN A multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar industry with regimented pathways and coaching programs, Peta Searle’s journey to an AFL club is strictly unique.

Her experience in football is extensive – both as a five-time premiership player and a five-time premiership coach – while Searle’s teaching background demonstrates a strong understanding of people management and fostering strong relationships.

She’s a female, and in a traditionally male dominated industry, this is no mean feat.

Yes she is more than a female. She’s also a mother of two, a coach, a mentor and a teacher, and ultimately it’s these qualities that will come to the fore in her time at St Kilda Football Club.

And as she said on Monday, gender is the last thing on her mind when she’s coaching.

“I think when you are coaching, you’re coaching people - that’s what is important,” Searle told SAINTS.com.au.

“It doesn’t matter whether they are male or female, younger or older.”

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Searle began her professional journey at Brighton Secondary College’s junior school in 1996 as a Physical Education Teacher. After 10 years in the role, she progressed to the senior school where she has worked until this week.

In early 2006 she was appointed Darebin Head Coach in the VWFL following a successful and highly acclaimed 10-year playing career in which she won a handful of premierships and three All-Australian guernseys.

In a matter of months, Searle turned the club on its head. She took a team with an ordinary culture from the bottom of the ladder to a Grand Final, before winning five consecutive flags.

In short, she transformed a club that was the worst performing club in the history of women’s football into the most successful in the history of the VWFL in just half a decade.  

In 2011, she was appointed as coach of the Victorian State team. It yielded her yet another championship (but this time at the national level), Searle developed and implemented a talent identification program and recruitment policy that was considered cutting edge.

That same year she was also named as Gary Ayres’ senior assistant coach at Port Melbourne Football Club in the VFL after meeting him at their level-three coaching accreditation course – a landmark moment in itself.

“I was with Gary for two years and he had a massive influence. I found myself going from training at Port Melbourne to coaching the girls and using his terminology,” she recalled.

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As if two coaching gigs weren’t enough, Searle was also the Western Jets TAC Under 16s assistant coach and the club’s Under 18s game day bench assistant.

But it was her work with Ayres at Port Melbourne that drew the considerable attention externally and significant praise internally.

Though the Borough fell one short of winning back-to-back flags, by the end of the season the team was the best defensive team in the competition – a testament to Searle’s work with the backline throughout the year.

In 2012 she gained her first experience inside an AFL club, spending three months at the Demons in personal development role – all the while refining her knowledge of what it takes to coach at the elite level.

And then just last year, with financial constraints becoming too hard to ignore, she returned to teaching and all-but shelved her coaching career.

Former Carlton and Hawthorn player Daniel Harford invited her down to St Kevins Old Boys FC in the Victorian Amateur Football Association and appointed Searle as his senior assistant. It allowed her to hold down a regular day job, but also keep one foot in the coaching ranks in case something did arise.

As recent as late April, it looked as if the coaching ship had sailed and while she was pragmatic about never holding down a full-time role at an AFL club, Ayres was disappointed.

“I think this is an awful shame,” the former Hawthorn great told Fairfax Media at the time.

“I believe she could knock over, without any problem whatsoever, a development coaching role within any AFL club.”

And so Ayres’ prophecy has come true just five weeks later.

On Monday May 2, Peta Searle was unveiled as St Kilda’s new development coach with the Saints player academy.

She joins Lindsay Gilbee and Paul Hudson in a role that is specifically designed to fast-track the advancement of St Kilda’s youngsters.

She will spend her last day at Brighton Secondary College on Friday, before embarking on a coaching career that many thought wasn’t possible.

This is not just a landmark day for Searle, St Kilda Football Club or even the AFL, rather this is a significant moment in Australian sport.