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AFLW

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(Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Launched in 2017, AFL Women’s, also know as the AFLW, is a 14-team competition for Australia’s elite female Aussie rules players.

The Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies, Fremantle Dockers, GWS Giants, Melbourne Demons and Western Bulldogs were announced as the eight inaugural teams in the AFLW in 2016.

The North Melbourne Kangaroos and Geelong Cats were added to the league for the 2019 season, while the Richmond Tigers, St Kilda Saints, West Coast Eagles and Gold Coast Suns joined in 2020.

The inaugural season was won by the Adelaide Crows, who saluted again in 2019, while the Western Bulldogs were premiers in 2018 and the Brisbane Lions won in 2021. No premiership was awarded in 2020 after the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

» Full AFLW 2022 fixtures

How to watch the AFL Women’s League

TV

Fox Footy will show every regular-season fixture on pay TV. To catch the action, footy fans will need a valid Foxtel TV subscription complete with the sports package.

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For footy fans without a Foxtel sports subscription, three games each week will be shown live by Channel Seven, with the timeslots varying by round.

All finals will be shown on both Seven and Fox.

Giants Women Train

Live stream

The best option to catch every AFLW match of the season via live stream is through Kayo Sports. Kayo lets you stream virtually all of Foxtel’s sporting coverage on your preferred device for $25 a month.

Foxtel subscribers can watch Fox Footy’s AFL Women’s coverage online through the Foxtel app service, which is included in the subscription. If you want to catch Fox Footy’s coverage without a pay TV subscription, you can get on Foxtel Now“>Foxtel Now, although this will not include the Women’s AFL grand final.

A live stream of every match will also be available through the AFL Live app, which can be downloaded for Apple, Android and Windows phones, as well as on AFL.com.au.

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This will, however, require an AFL Live Pass subsciption, for which there are three options: a weekly pass, costing $4.99 per week, a monthly pass, costing $14.99 per month, or an annual pass which, at $89.99 for the year, represents the best value of all three options.

The Live Pass will also get you access to every men’s AFL game throughout the year, including the grand final.

However, AFLW games will also be available on a free live stream via the AFLW official website.

Rule changes

There are a number of different rules for the women’s competition in comparison to the men’s. A smaller-sized Sherrin will be used as the game ball, while the women’s games will be played over four 15-minute quarters, rather than the 20-minute quarters seen in the AFL.

The main difference, however, is the number of players on the field. Women’s teams will feature 16 players on the field and six on the bench. The men’s competition also has 22-player matchday squads, but instead has 18 players from one team on the field at any one time, with just four reserves.

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