Our Staff

Claire Mitchell-Taverner
Player Development Regional Manager

Claire, or CMT, Bear, or Auntie Claire as she’s known around the office, joined the Player Development team in December 2007 as the Career Development Manager at the PA.  Now in the East Coast Regional Manager role, she spends a fair bit of time out of the office which works well for everyone!  On any given day, she could be working with one or more of her six Clubs (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Swannies, GWS, Melbourne or North Melbourne), either with the PDM at the Club or on the phone, or working with players or past players on their off-field endeavours, ideas and interests.  Basically, anything ‘Transition’ is on the menu.  One of her biggest PA passions is the Literacy & Numeracy Program which she has been driving since 2007.

If ever there’s a quiet moment in the office you’ll no doubt hear her bragging about her own sporting success, usually about that Olympic Gold Medal from the Sydney Games etc and her (not so) massive royalty cheques compared with the past AFL players in the PDP team …but we put up with that as her experience as an athlete brings a really useful perspective; she finds those experiences of juggling sporting ambition with the push and pull of life, a huge benefit for her work with our players. 

CMT has always worked in and around sport (more in the media & PR game early on) and loves her deliberate move to the athlete development side of things.  She’s completed a Bachelor of Arts, a Grad. Dip in Marketing, a Cert IV in Personal & Business Coaching and is completing the Grad. Cert. in Elite Athlete Mentoring...but it’s her work on the ground (and away from the books) helping athletes make the most of their opportunities that she really enjoys.  If you want to get the best out of CMT, keep her well-fed.  Yes, she’s a massive ‘foodie’, even by AFLPA standards…and that’s saying something!