AFLW season expansion poised to slow as stadium idea floated

The AFL concedes its “breakneck-speed” expansion of the AFLW will slow – but insists there is a clear way forward for the competition.

The AFL has plans for a new boutique Melbourne stadium to host AFLW games but will not commit to introducing a full home and away season within the next six years.

League executives denied there has been a loss of appetite to further invest in the fledgling competition after it emerged earlier this month it was being run at a cost of $50m per year.

AFLW players and coaches have long called for fixture equity in the form of a 17-round season, but it was suggested any expansion of the season beyond 14 rounds after the current collective bargaining agreement expires in 2027 was on the backburner.

Instead the league wanted to enter a period of “venue consolidation” to help boost its attendance numbers, with a vision of playing out of only four different venues in Victoria in coming years.

The redeveloped Whitten Oval and Ikon Park, which in 2020 received $35m in state and federal government funding to become a women’s football hub, would almost certainly be two of those venues.

The league will likely stick with a Saturday night GF. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

AFL head of strategy Walter Lee said the league was also considering the possibility of building a boutique stadium with a capacity of 15,000-20,000 to house AFLW games after closely observing the expansion of the US women’s soccer league.

A dozen different Victorian grounds were used during the 2024 season, which has been reduced to 10 for the coming campaign with Punt Road Oval unavailable and the MCG unlikely to host another game in the foreseeable future.

Avoiding the “reuse of men’s venues” was part of a broader strategy to help the game develop its own distinct identity ahead of a likely separation from the men’s competition in the next broadcast rights agreement.

The league wants to secure a standalone broadcast deal for the competition beyond 2031, which would help it become financially stable.

AFL football operations boss Laura Kane said a key focus would be filling smaller venues to create the vibrant, “festival-like” atmosphere which set it apart from the men’s game.

Kane’s long-term vision remained for AFLW games to pack out stadiums, but said the league had to be careful with how it paced its move from suburban grounds back into the bigger venues.

AFL football operations boss Laura Kane says the AFLW needs to be careful with how quickly it tries to move towards a stadium model. Picture: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images

She pointed to the success of the Arsenal women’s team in the WSL, which will play all its home games at the 50,000-seat Emirates Stadium in 2025-26 after carefully scheduling sporadic games at the venue in recent years.

Lee said attendance and TV viewership had waned in each of the four seasons the competition had introduced teams on its “breakneck speed” journey to 18 clubs.

“We’re playing in too many different timeslots, and we’re playing at too many different venues as well. Our strategy is to go a bit back to the future around this,” Lee said.

“This is something that we are starting to work on, and we’ll see some consolidation start to happen this season.

“The long-term plan, particularly in Victoria thinking about what happened in the 80s and 90s … is we concentrate our investment to get the best facilities for W games.”

The league said it was bullish about the potential for the on-field product to improve with adjustments to umpiring and the drafting of players who have spent their teenage years in a well-funded pathways system.

The AFLW is unlikely to return to the MCG or expand to a 17-round season in the next six years. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

It presented game statistics from the recent under-18 national championships which showed play was more instinctive and free-flowing than the average game in the 2024 AFLW season.

The under-18 games boasted more uncontested marks, a higher play-on percentage and more scores per inside 50 than senior games.

Umpires in the coming AFLW season have been directed to adopt a significantly more strict interpretation of holding the ball to avoid repeat stoppages, and will no longer wait for rucks to run across the ground to the contest before bringing the ball back into play.

The league explored allowing players to run 25m before bouncing the ball as another way to encourage quicker movement, but decided against making that change in 2025.

There remains no plan for a national reserves competition or better alignment of the state leagues with the AFLW.

The VFLW home and away season comes to an end on the AFLW’s opening weekend, while the SANFL women’s competition is already in finals.

Clubs led by the eight non-Victorian sides have been frustrated at a lack of opportunities for their fringe squad members to get match experience during the season.

Originally published as AFLW season expansion poised to slow as stadium idea floated