Head coach of the Tasmania Devils Women's VFL side's tarot reading pastime

It's clear within minutes of meeting Georgia Walker that she isn't a typical football coach.

There's not much in her living room that indicates she's about to make history as the inaugural coach of the Tasmania Devils VFLW team, or that she's played in the AFLW or grown up in love with Australian Rules.

What you will find, though, is burning sage, candles, crystals and a deck of tarot cards.

Walker straddles the sporting and spiritual worlds in a unique way.

I've arrived at her Hobart home to interview her, but before we begin, she's happily agreed to sit me down and read my tarot.

On this day, I'll be stepping into the world of Georgia Walker — the psychic medium footy coach who's as comfortable with ghosts as she is with game plans.

The reading begins.

"I won't press anything unless it keeps being repeated. Sometimes I may have the same message for you, and obviously that's just what you're needing to hear," she says, after having nervously shuffled the deck of tarot cards.

The cards are dealt and laid out.

Walker says I should be pleased with how they've landed on the table in front of us.

She deciphers the first row of cards and breaks into a smile.

"I've never had this before. I love it when things happen that have never come through before.

So far so good.

As a medium, she says she's also been able to connect to spirits since she was a child.

She recalls the spirit of a young girl who inhabited her childhood home in regional Victoria, who became affectionately known as Opal to her and her sister.

"For as long as I could remember, Mum was a very spiritual and energetic-type person, she was the one who probably brought it in.

"My sister and I would be sitting under the stairs, talking to ghosts, and grandma who had just passed, that kind of thing," she says.

Walker closes her eyes, puts her thumb to her head and forms a type of antenna to another realm with her hand.

Walker tells me there are people wanting to connect, and one jumps out — a younger woman, who apparently, has been wanting to speak for some time.

She smiles to herself and tells me I "have a lot of people in my corner", and that for first-timers like me, there can be an overwhelming number of voices from the other side clamouring to connect for the first time.

Our reading lasts about half an hour.

Walker tells me some things about myself that hit close to home, and others that are more open to interpretation.

She asks me if the name Elsie means anything to me. It doesn't.

But Walker isn't apologetic, nor does she feel she's wrong — it's just the information she's received and she's simply doing her job in passing it on.

Devils doing it differently

Tasmania's new AFL team has done things a little differently since the night it was officially launched in 2024.

The appointment of Georgia Walker as VFLW coach is no different in the sense that she is very different — but for her quirks, her footy chops are as impressive as anyone's in the women's game.

She beat a stellar field to be appointed as Tasmania's first VFLW coach, learning the ropes firstly from her dad, who coached in regional Victoria, before progressing through the ranks as a player, representing her state, playing two games with AFLW club Collingwood, and then captaining St Kilda's affiliate women's team, the Southern Saints.

Injuries and concussions brought her playing career to an end before she pivoted to coaching, eventually ending up as head coach of the GWS Giants Academy team and a backline coach for its AFLW team, before throwing her hat in the ring for the Tasmanian top job.

Her first Devils pre-season is yet to conclude, but already she's been called up into the assistant coaching role for the VFL women's representative team which played against a South Australian representative team during Gather Round weekend.

Her players know she's a little left of centre, but it's a quality that, combined with her footy credentials, makes Walker a popular leader.

"Crazy Cat" is how Devils vice-captain Georgia Nicholas describes Walker.

"Definitely has a unique personality, but I vibe with her really well. She's got high energy and she loves to radiate that," Nicholas says.

"Those one or two giggles you have from an inside joke that you probably wouldn't get if you didn't spend time building that connection, can really transfer to a good environment and a good culture that we can relate to our game plan."

Nicholas is one of several Devils players and staff who have had their cards read by Walker.

"She told me about new job opportunities, which is good because I'm looking for one at the moment, so that was quite wild, and there was something about tapping into being yourself, not saying too much, not oversharing."

Walker's worlds began to blend while at Southern Saints, where Steph Warburton — another psychic medium — was working as St Kilda's mindfulness coach.

Warburton emboldened her to combine her skills as a counsellor and teacher, with what she describes as "witchy stuff" to get the best out of her footballers.

"Through the work that I do, you're able to help them be better and not tell them what to do, but to guide them through things," Walker says.

"Journalling is good for mental health. It's good for mind, spirit and body.

"Affirmations are good for self-belief and self-confidence and healing parts of you that you never thought you could.

"It's bringing those everyday skills into their world and they're like, 'Oh, is that that stuff?'

"And I'm like, it's all the same, it's just that it comes under this bit more of a taboo banner or a 'witchy' banner," she says.

Newly minted Devils skipper Meghan Gaffney knows Walker from her time as a player at GWS Giants and believes her unique style can translate into wins on the field.

"She's probably one of the most down-to-earth people I've met. Really chill. Really happy to just be living, which I think is so special," Gaffney says.

Walker describes her skills as a "privilege".

"Whether it's to console or help guide people who are at a crossroads wanting answers, people wanting to know more about themselves, wanting to heal parts of themselves, or get closure with those who have passed," she says.

There's a uniquely feminine aspect to what she practices too, which she believes is important as she prepares to lead a team of women into the sporting arena.

"Tapping into the moons and the moon cycles, as a woman, we have our own cycles and menstruating, and it links very closely to full moons and new moons, so being able to integrate that into your own understanding and knowledge is really powerful," she says.

When worlds collide

But introducing chakras and moon phases into the footy lexicon can also be challenging.

Walker insists that while she encourages curiosity in what she does, she doesn't force the issue.

She also says she tries to avoid excessive crossover and doesn't attempt to convince or "change the minds" of sceptics, of whom there are plenty.

She says for the most part, players love "hearing ghost stories" and asking questions about tarot.

"I'm telling ghost stories or experiences that I've had with spirits. It led to me doing lots of readings with them, helping people, and the biggest thing, which is helping people connect closer with themselves."

Walker also avoids attempting to tap directly into her psychic side to influence footballing outcomes.

Aside from asking the weather gods to be kind, or hoping for a favourable bounce of the ball, Walker believes that asking the universe to grant trivial victories isn't worth the eventual karmic cost.

"I tend to not do that, in the event that I ask too much, and then it's like, 'okay, well now you lose all this'.

Her hope isn't necessarily that her players leap fully into the world that she occupies, but that they can tap into unexplored parts of themselves to become better people — and therefore footballers.

"It's weird talking about it in this type of environment because there's never really been a spotlight on it, but I'm actually really excited about the opportunity because we get to talk about it more and make it more normal," she says.

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