AFLW 2024 fixture: Eliza Reilly examines the issues still facing AFLW competition
The AFLW fixture release has exposed a league happy to “do the bare minimum” and a schedule putting player health at risk, writes ELIZA REILLY.
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Build it and they will come.
That’s been the widely accepted approach that has underpinned a global movement celebrating and finally recognising women’s sport as the juggernaut it has become.
Except at AFL House.
Stunt it and hope that they still show up is seemingly the league’s tactic.
Even with advance warning, it was still unsettling to see a compressed fixture come to fruition when this year’s 11-game, 10-week season roadmap was released on Friday.
The players wanted more games but ‘metrics’ didn’t support it.
But hey, we’re feeling charitable so here’s an extra game except you have to play off a four-day break, midweek when fans are largely otherwise occupied and while you’re at it, some of you might have to rearrange those full-time work commitments because non-Victorian clubs will stay on the road in between games.
The good news is that the league is treating midweek games as anomalies when it comes to said growth metrics. And it’s expected that the compressed fixture won’t last beyond this year.
The bad news is that it threatens to stymie the quality of the game and the players playing it.
List sizes will remain at 30 for this season ahead. The depth of several squads has already been tested by season-ending injuries and training hasn’t officially started yet.
At best, it’s optimistic to think that a compressed fixture won’t physically punish teams and contribute to injury. At worst, it’s negligent.
But anything to keep the AFLW confined to a neat little window of supposed clean air between August and late November. A three-and-a-half-month opening that will also see the AFLW pitted against the AFL finals series, grand final and trade period. That’s not to mention the start of the A-League, NBL, WNBL, WBBL and spring racing.
You know what’s a crazy idea? Playing 11 games in 11 weeks. The season isn’t long enough to begin with so what’s the rush? Amateur women’s football seasons run longer than Australia’s national competition.
You know you’ve got a problem when diehard fans desperate to consume your product are questioning the accessibility of games. How can you expect to attract new, casual fans if that’s the case?
Regardless of what clubs think, the AFL will always make the decision that suits them.
Metrics will again determine the growth of the competition yet this fixture, ironically, makes them pretty bloody hard to meet. Beyond boutique regional stadiums in Geelong, Canberra and the Gold Coast, the Western Derby is the only game fixtured at an AFL venue this season.
Women’s sport is gaining momentum globally. The second Women’s State of Origin game will set a new attendance record next week after tickets were exhausted. The Matildas played their 13th consecutive sell-out home game on Friday night. AFL legend Tim Watson recently compared Eagles number one pick Harley Reid to WNBA star Caitlin Clark. It’s at a fever pitch.
But the AFLW seems pretty happy to do the bare minimum — give women a platform to play footy.
It’s time to strive for more. It’s time for the competition to stop self-sabotaging at every turn and backed in its own product.
Build it and they will come.
Originally published as AFLW 2024 fixture: Eliza Reilly examines the issues still facing AFLW competition
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