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, 14 teams in 2020 and 18 teams in 2022. The league is run by the Australian Football League (AFL) and is contested by each of the clubs from that competition. The reigning premiers are the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos.
The AFLW is the second most attended women's football competition in Australia (behind A-League Women) and one of the most popular women's football competitions in the world. Its average attendance in 2019 of 6,262 per game made it the second-highest of any domestic women's football competition. Its record attendance of 53,034 for the 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final was until 2020 the highest match attendance for women's sport in Australia.
The AFLW has attracted an audience of more than 1 million attendees[1] and 2 million viewers[2] and has managed to maintain high interest while moving to primarily ticketed and subscription broadcasting models since the 2021 season. It consistently ranks in the top three (alongside cricket and netball) most watched women's sporting competitions in Australia.[3] The league receives international interest, particularly in Ireland where it has begun to attract a significant television audience due to the ongoing recruitment of Irish Gaelic football stars.[4] However, it was reported in mid-2023 that data revealed a significant drop in attendances for the seventh season of the women's league compared to the first season.[5]
History
Establishment
In 2010, the AFL commissioned a report into the state of women's football around the country.[6] Along with findings concerning grassroots and junior football, the report recommended the AFL Commission begin working toward the establishment of a national women's league. While the option of new stand-alone clubs was considered, a model using the resources and branding of existing AFL clubs was to be the preferred model for the planned league.[7]
The first on-field step towards the competition took place in early 2013, when the AFL announced an exhibition match to be played between women's teams representing Melbourne and Western Bulldogs in June of that year. On 15 May 2013, the first women's draft was held, establishing the playing lists for the two clubs in the forthcoming exhibition match.[8] The match played on 29 June 2013 marked the first time two women's sides had competed under the banners of AFL clubs. A crowd of 7,518 watched the historic match, which Melbourne won by 35 points.[9] The exhibition match became a series between the clubs, with another game played in 2014 and two played in 2015, the last of which – on 16 August 2015 – was the first women's AFL game to be broadcast on free-to-air television. It attracted an average audience of 175,000, surpassing the 114,000 average audience for the AFL men's clash of the previous day, between Adelaide and Essendon.[10]
The success of these exhibition matches prompted the AFL to accelerate its plans for a nationwide women's competition, announcing a preferred start date of 2017.[11] Prior to this, the league had announced only aspirational plans to have the women's competition established by 2020.[12] The already-planned 2016 exhibition series was expanded at this time, with a total of ten matches to be played in venues across the country and featuring a range of new temporary representative teams.[13]
In 2016, the AFL opened a process for existing clubs to tender applications to join the new competition. The 18 clubs in the men's league had until 29 April 2016 to place a bid for a licence, with 13 clubs making bids: Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, West Coast, and Western Bulldogs.[14] The AFL's preferred distribution of clubs was four clubs from Victoria and one each from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.[15]
Details about the branding of the league were released in the second half of 2016. On 15 September 2016, the AFL announced that the league would be named "AFL Women's" or AFLW for short, with the logo being unveiled on 19 September 2016.[18][19] The logo is a stylised rendition of an Australian rules football ground goal square and goal posts, drawn from a perspective that resembles a "W".[19] On 10 October 2016, the National Australia Bank was named as the league's naming rights sponsor.[20]
Carlton and Collingwood players contesting the first ball-up in the inaugural AFL Women's match in February 2017. The match was played before a lockout crowd of 24,568 – the highest attendance of the inaugural season.
The first premiership game was played at Ikon Park on Friday, 3 February 2017.[21] The AFL had initially planned to host the game at Melbourne's Olympic Park Oval, with a capacity of just 7,000, but was forced to change to Ikon Park due to overwhelming interest and a need for more seating.[22] The match was deemed a "lockout" with a capacity crowd of 24,568 in attendance, with estimates of a few thousand left outside.[23] Gillon McLachlan, the AFL's CEO, personally apologised to those who missed out. The game was also a great success on TV, attracting a national audience of 896,000, including 593,000 metropolitan free-to-air viewers, 180,000 regional free-to-air viewers, and 123,000 on Fox Footy.[24] The Melbourne metropolitan audience of 424,000 was on par with that of Friday-night AFL men's matches.[24]
The inaugural season concluded with the Grand Final held on Saturday, 25 March 2017. The Adelaide Crows were crowned the league's first premiers after defeating the minor premiers, the Brisbane Lions. The scoreline read Adelaide 4.11 (35) def. Brisbane 4.5 (29).[25]
Expansion (2019–2022)
Expansion of the competition occurred in two instalments, with two clubs added in 2019 and four added in 2020, resulting in 14 teams in total.
The 10 AFL clubs not originally participating in the competition were invited to bid for inclusion, with priority given to the five clubs that had submitted unsuccessful bids to participate in the inaugural season.[26] The deadline to lodge submissions was 16 June 2017. The only clubs not to bid were Port Adelaide and Sydney.[27]North Melbourne worked with AFL Tasmania to craft its bid, with the club aiming to play home matches in Melbourne, Hobart, and Launceston, and also to select half of its playing list from Tasmania.[28][29]
A final decision on which clubs would be admitted to the competition was expected by the end of July 2017, but was delayed several times.[27][30][31] On 27 September 2017, the AFL announced that Geelong and North Melbourne had been selected to enter the competition in 2019.[32] North Melbourne retained its commitment to playing matches in Tasmania.[33] The league then added four teams in 2020, with the AFL selecting Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast to join the competition.[32][33] The growth in clubs for the 2019 season was accompanied by the introduction of an American-style conference structure, which was abandoned after the 2020 season in favour of the traditional single ladder.[34] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was curtailed and eventually cancelled without a premiership awarded.[35]
On 12 August 2021, the other four AFL clubs without AFLW licenses – Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney – were granted entry into the competition, to commence in AFL Women's season seven.[36]
North Melbourne became the first expansion team, founded after the inaugural season, to win a premiership, when the Kangaroos defeated Brisbane by 30 points in the 2024 decider.[37]
^ denotes that the club has a formalised partnership with this state or territory * denotes that the club had a foundation women's team + denotes that the club was a founding member of the AFLW
Notes
↑ North Melbourne currently have a formalised partnership with Tasmania, which enables the club to draft players from and play home games there.
Melbourne's Elise O'Dea evaded Hannah Scott of the Western Bulldogs in Round 3, 2017.
The club's playing lists were constructed from scratch through the later stages of 2016. All participants in the 2017 season were required to be over the age of 17.
Initially, clubs were asked to nominate a list of desired players, with the AFL assigning two of these "marquee" players to each club. In addition, clubs were able to sign a number of players with existing connections to the club, or with arrangements for club-sponsored work or study.[39][40][41] This number varied for each club, in an attempt to equitably spread talent across the teams. In addition, clubs were required to recruit two "rookies" – people with no Australian rules football experience in the previous three-year period. The majority of players were later recruited through the 2016 AFL Women's draft.[42] The remaining list spots were filled with free-agent signings in the week following the draft. In total, clubs have 27 active listed players in addition to injury replacements signed to take the spot of long-term injury-affected players.
Salary
Player salaries are determined by collective bargaining agreement with each club's total payments being determined by a salary cap.
The rules are mostly the same as those used in the AFL, with a few exceptions:
The use of a slightly smaller ball, in line with other women's competitions.
Quarters last 17 minutes (15 prior to 2023) instead of 20, with time-on only in the last two minutes.
Teams have 16 players on the field at a time instead of 18, and have five interchange players and 60 player rotations (unlimited prior to 2023) instead of four interchange players with one substitute and 75 total rotations.[47]
Throw-ins are executed 10 metres in from the boundary line, except within the 50-metre arcs, instead of on the boundary line.
A "last touch" out-of-bounds rule applies, except within the 50-metre arcs: during 2018, this "last touch" rule applied everywhere.[48]
Season structure
Pre-season
Prior to the commencement of the home-and-away season teams are paired off to play an exhibition trial match. In 2017, these matches took place during varying weeks of January.
Premiership season and finals
For the first two seasons of competition, the home-and-away season was operated on a single table, and seven matches were played by each of the eight teams. The two highest-placed teams at the conclusion of the home-and-away season qualified for the Grand Final match, in the absence of a longer finals series.
With the addition of two extra teams in 2019, the AFL Women's home-and-away season introduced conferences, a concept not common in Australian sports.[49][50] The top-two teams from the respective conferences qualified to the preliminary finals, with the first-ranked team in Conference A meeting the second-ranked team in Conference B and the opposite employed for the other preliminary final. The winners of those matches then met in the Grand Final.[50]
The use of conferences was retained in 2020, along with the inclusion of four additional teams. The 14 teams were split into two conferences of seven, with teams playing each other team in their conference once. The top-four teams in each conference qualified for the finals series. The first round of the finals consisted of four knockout finals, with teams from opposite conferences playing against each other, first in Conference A versus fourth in Conference B, and so on. This left a final four of North Melbourne, Fremantle, Carlton, and Melbourne, with two rounds of finals to be played. At this point, the season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with no 2020 premier.
In 2021, the league reverted to a single 14-team ladder. Each team played 9 matches, with the top six qualifying for a three-week finals series. All finals are knockouts, with the top-two teams having a bye in the first round of the finals.[34] Since 2022 (S7) the competition has been contested by 18 teams, and the finals series has expanded to eight teams and is played under the AFL final eight system that has been in use in the men's competition since the 2000 season.
On 21 August 2023, incoming AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon announced that the AFLW will receive equal prize money to the AFL. The prize money for AFLW players will almost double, going from $623,922 to $1.1 million to split between the top 8 teams.[51]
Leading Goalkicker Award – to the player who kicks the most goals during the home-and-away season
All-Australian Team – a squad of 21 players deemed the best in their positions, voted by an AFL-appointed committee
Rising Star Award – to the fairest and best young player under the age of 21 as at the start of the calendar year, voted by the AFL-appointed All-Australian committee
Grand Final Best on Ground Award – the best player on the ground in the Grand Final, voted by a committee of media members
Audience
Attendance
The league peaked at an average attendance of 6,828 in its inaugural season and a record 53,034 attended the 2019 Grand Final. Admission was free prior to 2022, when the AFLW introduced reserved ticketing at $10 admission per match, which was later increased. In mid-2023, data revealed a significant drop in average attendances for the seventh season compared to the first season.[5] Taking into account the greater number of games played, total attendance was still growing, just spread over three times as many matches. The league's choice of venues has been criticised, with many of the AFL's premium venues, such as Victoria's Melbourne Cricket Ground and Docklands Stadium, not used for blockbuster AFLW matches. The league has been cited as preferring the atmosphere of fuller smaller venues rather than emptier larger venues, particularly for its television broadcasting.
The following are the most recent season attendances (record figures are bolded):
In its inaugural 2017 season, all matches were televised live by affiliate partners the Seven Network and Fox Footy.[60] As part of the initial broadcast deal, the free-to-air carrier Seven broadcast one Saturday-night game per week as standard, in addition to the league's opening match and Grand Final. Pay TV network Fox Footy televised all premiership season matches, including simulcasts of the Seven-hosted matches other than the Grand Final.[61] The two television networks covered the costs of broadcasting these matches, with no licensing fee payable to the league in exchange.[62]Fearless: The Inside Story of the AFLW debuted on Disney+ in 2022, the docu-series followed several AFLW clubs through the course of the 2022 season.[63] In July 2023 The Age reported that AFLW viewer numbers were down 70% from the debut season, blaming a combination of scheduling, poor quality venues and broadcast quality, and "football fatigue".[64]
The AFLW has attracted an audience of more than 1 million attendees[1] and 2 million viewers[2] and has managed to maintain high interest despite moving to primarily ticketed and subscription broadcasting models from the 2021 season. It consistently ranks in the top three (alongside cricket and netball) most watched women's sporting competitions in Australia.[3] The league receives international interest, particularly in Ireland where it has begun to attract a significant television audience due to the ongoing recruitment of Gaelic football stars.[4]
Online
The official internet/mobile broadcast partner of the AFL is BigPond, part of Telstra. The company hosts the league website and those of each of the eight participation clubs. The AFL has retained digital broadcast rights to matches in the league's inaugural season and will stream all matches live and free on the league website and mobile app.[62] Since 2021 Kayo Sports has streamed all AFLW matches live and on demand in Australia.[65] Outside Australia, the inaugural season is available on Watch AFL.[66]
Official match-day attire, together with other club merchandise, is sold through the AFL's stores and website, as well through the clubs and some retailers.
Women's exhibition games (2013–2016)
Prior to the creation of the league, the AFL ran four years of exhibition matches between sides representing Melbourne and Western Bulldogs. In 2016, the series was expanded to multiple teams from around the country.
Selected matches aired live on either on the Seven Network or Fox Footy, as part of their AFL coverage.
This series saw the introduction of a women's Sydney Derby, Western Derby, and QClash: these would take place again in 2022 and 2019 in the AFLW.
The SANFL Blue v SANFL Red match was originally meant to be a women's Showdown, but Port Adelaide's women's team went into recess at the end of their 2016 season. After plans for an Adelaide v Rest of South Australia match fell through, Adelaide, Port Adelaide and the AFL mutually agreed to arrange this fixture, which also served as a selection trial for the inaugural Adelaide AFLW squad: the first women's Showdown would take place in 2022.
Only the 3 September clash between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, which was played in the week's break before the 2016 AFL finals series, was contested for the Hampson-Hardeman Cup. The match was televised on Channel 7, attracting a peak of 1.05million viewers nationally, with 387,000 viewers in Melbourne; it was the highest-rated match broadcast in Melbourne during the 2016 home and away season.[74]
The best and fairest award determined in the same way as the Brownlow Medal for men, with umpires awarding three, two, and one votes to the best three players in each game, and suspended players are ineligible.
Each week, the senior coach of each club gives five votes to the player they consider to be best on ground in the game in which their team plays, four to the second-best, and so on to one for the fifth-best.
Emily Bates is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Brisbane Lions from 2017 to season 7. Bates was selected by the Western Bulldogs in the inaugural national women's draft in 2013, and represented them in the first three years of the exhibition games staged prior to the creation of the league. She represented Brisbane in 2016, the last year that the games were held, and was drafted by the club with the second selection in the 2016 AFL Women's draft prior to the inaugural AFL Women's season.
Daisy Pearce is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and is the current AFLW senior coach of the West Coast Eagles.
Brianna Iris Davey is an Australian footballer in both the Association football (soccer) and Australian rules football codes. In soccer, she was a goalkeeper for the national women's team the Matildas and played in the W-League for Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City. In 2016, she transitioned from soccer to Australian rules football, and was one of two initial marquee recruits for the Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She won the inaugural Carlton best and fairest award and was named in the 2017 AFL Women's All-Australian team. Davey served as Carlton captain from 2018 to 2019 before being traded to the Collingwood Football Club. She was appointed Collingwood co-captain alongside Steph Chiocci in 2021, and won the league best and fairest award for the 2021 season.
The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs. Eight Australian Football League (AFL) clubs featured in the inaugural season: Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
Chelsea Randall is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She is one of the club's inaugural AFLW team co-captains.
Ebony Marinoff is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She is a three-time AFL Women's premiership player, seven-time AFL Women's All-Australian and three-time Adelaide Club Champion winner. In 2017, Marinoff won the inaugural AFL Women's Rising Star award and represented The Allies in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match, and in 2024, she won the AFL Women's best and fairest, AFLPA AFLW most valuable player, AFLPA AFLW best captain and AFLCA AFLW champion player of the year awards. Marinoff has served as Adelaide co-captain since 2024, and is the AFL Women's equal games record holder and Adelaide games record holder with 93 games.
Emma Michelle Kearney is an Australian rules footballer and former cricketer. A decorated midfielder in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, Kearney won the league's best and fairest award while playing for the Western Bulldogs in 2018 and has captained North Melbourne since 2019. She previously played cricket for the Melbourne Stars in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL).
Karen "Paxy" Paxman is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A defender, 1.70 metres (5.6 ft) tall, Paxman plays primarily on the half-back line with the ability to push into the midfield. She first played football at sixteen years of age and won a premiership and league best and fairest in her first year. She played in the premier division of the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) from the 2008 season and won three VWFL premierships with St Albans and Darebin, in addition to a VFL Women's premiership with Darebin. Her accolades in football include three league best and fairests, state representation on four occasions, best-on-ground in a grand final, and five-time AFLW All-Australian honours.
Angela Foley is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Adelaide Football Club from 2017 to season 6. A defender, 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) tall, Foley plays primarily on the half-back line with the ability to push into the midfield.
Jessica Wuetschner is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Brisbane and Essendon in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
Jasmine Garner is an Australian rules footballer with North Melbourne in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. Garner scored the AFLW's first-ever goal while playing for Collingwood in the league's inaugural match in 2017.
Hayley Miller is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. Miller won the Fremantle fairest and best and leading goalkicker awards in season 6 and was named in the 2022 AFL Women's season 6 All-Australian team. She served as Fremantle captain from season 6 to 2023, and is Fremantle's games record holder with 80 games.
The 2018 AFL Women's season was the second season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eight clubs and ran from 2 February to 24 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs.
Brooke Lochland is a former Australian rules footballer and former speed skater. Lochland played for the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans in the AFL Women's (AFLW). In 2018, she played in the Bulldogs' AFL Women's premiership team, was the AFL Women's leading goalkicker for that season and was named in the 2018 AFL Women's All-Australian team.
Kirsty Maree Lamb is an Australian rules footballer playing for Port Adelaide in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She has previously played for the Western Bulldogs Lamb previously played cricket for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) and for the Melbourne Renegades in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL).
The 2019 AFL Women's season was the third season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 2 February to 31 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a two-week finals series featuring the top two clubs from each conference. Australian Football League (AFL) clubs Geelong and North Melbourne featured for the first time in 2019.
The 2019 season was Geelong Football Club's first in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. Geelong joined the league as an expansion club alongside North Melbourne, having initially been denied entry into the competition's first season in 2017. Paul Hood was the club's inaugural senior coach, and Melissa Hickey was appointed club captain.
The 2020 AFL Women's season was the fourth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 7 February to 22 March; it was intended to comprise an eight-round home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top three clubs from each conference, however the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March saw the season curtailed and finally abandoned without a premiership being awarded. Australian Football League (AFL) clubs Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast featured for the first time in 2020.
Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL Women's) is a professional Australian rules football team based in Alberton, South Australia. The team plays in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. The team is part of the Port Adelaide Football Club.
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and, from 2018 until 2022, the VFL Women's (VFLW). The team is associated with the Hawthorn men's team.
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