AFL boss defends AFLW standards after top team's goalless finals defeat
A top-four AFLW team's failure to score a single goal in a finals contest has raised eyebrows, but the league boss insists there’s another story.
The team that finished fourth on the AFLW ladder failed to kick a goal in the opening final, but the league boss says that’s not a reflection on playing standards and isn’t a “concern”.
Hawthorn won nine of 12 regular-season matches, the same as Melbourne in second and Brisbane in third, to secure a double-chance in the finals.
The Hawks will need it too after kicking just three points for the entire game against premiership favourites North Melbourne, who won their qualifying final last Friday night by 39 points to record a 25th win in a row.
The poor scoring performance drew criticism of the standards of the competition – now in its 10th season – with last-placed Gold Coast averaging just more than 26 points a game.
But on Monday, as he confirmed the AFL men’s competition would have a wildcard finals weekend in 2026 on the same weekend that had been reserved for the AFLW competition only, AFL boss Andrew Dillon wasn’t worried about Hawthorn’s goalless effort.
“I don’t think concern is the word,” Dillon said.
“What it does show is what an incredible team North Melbourne are.
“I was at the game on Friday night, and there was no lack of endeavour from Hawthorn. There were times there where they were really close.
“But North Melbourne are an amazing side. They haven’t lost for two seasons now, and they’re going to be hard to beat.”
Dillon defended the decision to schedule men’s AFL finals on what had been the stand-alone weekend for the AFLW, adamant the two could coexist.
“W is super-important for us,” Dillon told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.
“But we saw this year with rounds 1 and 2 overlapping with the last two rounds of the men’s competition that the AFLW and the AFL men’s competitions will coexist successfully.
“And we just see this as a further iteration of that and we get then all of October and all of November to celebrate AFLW.
“That is something that we’re acutely aware of. As I said, this year we saw it work really well.”
