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 Brisbane.
Amanda Farrugia is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the AFL Women's competition. She was the club's inaugural AFLW captain and played in all 21 possible matches across her three seasons at the club.
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).
Melissa Hickey is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and the Geelong Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She served as Geelong captain in the club's first two AFL Women's seasons. She also played in the Victorian Women's Football League/VFL Women's for eleven seasons, representing the St Albans Spurs, Darebin and Geelong. In the VWFL/VFLW, Hickey won seven premierships, represented Victoria on three occasions and featured in the VFL Women's team of the year.
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.
Dana Hooker is an Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Fremantle Football Club from 2017 to 2019. Hooker is a dual AFL Women's All-Australian, and was the inaugural Fremantle fairest and best winner in 2017 and inaugural West Coast Club Champion in 2020.
Richelle Cranston is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She was drafted by Melbourne with their third selection and twenty-fourth overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the fifteen point loss to Brisbane at Casey Fields in the opening round of the 2017 season. She was suspended for one match after her debut match due to front on contact with Brisbane's Jamie Stanton. After returning from suspension, she played every match for the year to finish with six games.
Shelley Scott is an Australian rules footballer playing for Geelong in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their sixth selection and forty-first overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the fifteen point loss to Brisbane at Casey Fields in the opening round of the 2017 season. She missed one match during the season, the round five match against Greater Western Sydney due to a shoulder injury.
Katherine Smith is an Australian rules footballer playing for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their seventh selection and 56th overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the 15-point loss to Brisbane at Casey Fields in the opening round of the 2017 season. After the two-point win against Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Round 6—in which she recorded ten disposals and a mark—she was the round nominee for the AFLW Rising Star. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven games.
Lily Mithen is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their tenth selection and seventy-third overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the fifteen point loss to Brisbane at Casey Fields in the opening round of the 2017 season. After the nineteen point win against Collingwood at Ikon Park in round two—in which she recorded fourteen disposals, three marks and two tackles—she was the round nominee for the AFLW Rising Star. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven games. She also won Geelong's 2017 best and fairest award in the club's VFL Women's team.
Brooke Patterson is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their thirteen selection and 104th overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the nineteen point win against Collingwood at Ikon Park in round two of the 2017 season. She played the next two matches before missing the round five match against Greater Western Sydney due to a hamstring injury. She returned for the final round match against Fremantle at Casey Fields to finish with four matches for the season.
Jasmine Grierson is an Australian rules footballer playing for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She has previously played for Melbourne and North Melbourne.
Sarah Jolly is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their nineteenth selection and 145th overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the nineteen point win against Collingwood at Ikon Park in round two of the 2017 season. She played the next week in the fourteen point win against the Western Bulldogs at VU Whitten Oval before being omitted for the round four match against Carlton at Casey Fields. She returned for the five point loss to Greater Western Sydney at Blacktown International Sportspark Oval in round five, which was her last match for the year and she finished the season with three games. She was not retained on Melbourne's list at the end of the season and was subsequently delisted in May 2017.
Aliesha Newman is an Australian rules footballer playing for Sydney in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She previously played for the Melbourne Football Club and for Collingwood.
Jessica Sedunary is an Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She has previously played for the Adelaide Football Club from 2017 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022 (S6) and the St Kilda Football Club in 2020.
Bianca Jakobsson is an Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). She previously played for Carlton and Melbourne.
Alison Brown is an Australian rules footballer who plays for Melbourne in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). She was recruited by Carlton as a free agent following the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in Round 1, 2017, in the club and the league's inaugural match at Ikon Park against Collingwood. Brown finished 2017 having played in all seven possible matches with Carlton. She was subsequently delisted at season's end. On 29 January 2019, Brown was announced as the first AFLW signing for the St Kilda Football Club Women's Team, who officially entered the AFL Women's competition in 2020. In March 2021, St Kilda announced they delisted Brown after playing 11 matches for the club. In the 2021 AFL Women's draft, Melbourne drafted her with the 45th pick after she played 12 games for Casey Demons in the VFL Women's. She was educated at Caulfield Grammar School. In December 2022, Brown was delisted by Melbourne.
Ashleigh Guest is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne, and the Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Guest was drafted by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with their second selection and sixteenth overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the thirty-six point loss to Adelaide at Thebarton Oval in the opening round of the 2017 season. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven games. She was traded to the Melbourne Football Club at the conclusion of the 2017 season.
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.
Maddie Shevlin is an Australian rules footballer playing for Richmond in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Initially a tag rugby player, Shevlin played with the Gungahlin Jets in the AFL Canberra for two seasons before she was drafted by Melbourne in the 2017 AFLW rookie draft. Delisted after one season, she was re-drafted by Collingwood in the 2018 national draft and made her professional debut in round 3 of the 2019 season. After three seasons she was traded to Richmond.
