AFL Women’s will adopt a five-team conference system, two-week finals series for 2019
THE AFL Women’s competition will adopt a conference system in 2019. The new-look 10-team league will be split in two for the new season with seven home-and-away games and two-week finals series.
AFL WOMEN’S is set for conferences.
But while the competition’s best-and-fairest player has backed the new system, others aren’t so happy.
The third season of AFLW will begin on February 2 and will see the 10 teams split into two pools.
As had been reported by the Herald Sun, the women will play seven home-and-away games and two weeks of finals.
On Friday, the league announced that each team’s seven rounds will consist of four games against conference opponents and then three crossover games versus teams from the opposing conference, which will be decided using a weighting rule.
North Melbourne recruit Emma Kearney - who won last year’s best-and-fairest medal for her premiership year at the Western Bulldogs - said she was happy “the season wasn’t shortened”.
“I think the new structure will allow for a more competitive landscape, similar to the way in which the AFL is fixtured,” the Kangaroo said.
“We train so hard and are doing a lot of work to try and build on the competition, and I think we are moving in the right direction to achieve that.”
But a number of other players - including Brisbane star Kate McCarthy - gave the new structure a thumbs down on social media.
Preliminary finals will be held on March 23 and 24 with the Grand Final to be held the following week in what could be Round 2 of the AFL season.
“We’ve been continuing to consult with all of the relevant parties, and that will mean the AFLW will run into the men’s season longer and that’s something that we’ve all agreed on,” league boss Gillon McLachlan told 3AW.
“We can have more games and we’ll deal with the clashes as best we can.”
AFL head of women’s football Nicole Livingstone told the AFL website that the length of the season had to be considered against the wider demands on players.
“Whilst I recognise that players would like to play longer, and some sections of the fan base would like (the season) to go longer as well, we also need to recognise that at the moment, they’re part-time athletes,” she said.
“The feedback we get back through the AFLPA and the players themselves is they’re also struggling with things like leave at work, managing time off and the period of the competition.
“A lot of players spoke to me at the end of the eight-week season saying they were absolutely exhausted. We do need to also have a product that’s viable and sustainable and have something to move up to in the future.”
New rules will also be introduced for AFLW03, including an 18-metre goal square and a “last touch” rule between the arcs.
Originally published as AFL Women’s will adopt a five-team conference system, two-week finals series for 2019