Damien Keeping is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

coach who served as the head coach of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

in its first two seasons in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

competition (AFLW), from 2017 to 2018.

Coaching career

Beginnings

After coaching junior boys football at Gisborne Rookies at local level Keeping took up a role as assistant coach with the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

. From there he made his first foray into women's football, moving on to coach the Victorian Metro Youth Girls side as an assistant coach. He later also served at the VWFL Women's Academy. In 2016 Keeping worked as the head coach of the representative side in that year's women's exhibition series.

AFL Women's

Keeping was appointed as the inaugural head coach of 's AFL Women's side in June 2016. He coached the side to three wins and a draw from seven matches in the league's inaugural season in 2017. After coaching the club to victory in its first match of the 2018 season, it was announced that Keeping had been admitted to hospital with an undisclosed illness. He was replaced in rounds 2 and 3 by assistant coach

Nick Rutley Nick Rutley is an Australian rules football coach who currently serves as the lead assistant coach of the Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Coaching career Rutley's coaching career began in earnest in 2014 with a de ...

, before Keeping returned to coaching in round 4. He failed to secure a win in the club's final four matches of the season, instead coaching Carlton to a

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

finish with two wins. Keeping and the club parted ways by mutual agreement on 20 March, just two days after the home and away season's end. He had coached the club to 12 matches across his two seasons.

Coaching statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of 2018'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , 7 , , 3 , , 3 , , 1 , , 43% , , 4 , , 8 , - ! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal",

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , 5 , , 1 , , 4 , , 0 , , 20% , , 8 , , 8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 12 ! 4 ! 7 ! 1 ! 33% ! colspan=2,

References

External links

Damien Keeping's profile
from AustralianFootball.com
Damien Keeping's profile
at Blueseum.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeping, Damien Living people AFL Women's coaches 1982 births