Saturday’s enthralling grand final was the perfect ending to a wonderful inaugural season of the AFLW competition.
It has been a resounding success, from the very first match, when thousands of eager fans found themselves locked out of Ikon Park, to the grand final itself, which delivered an absorbing contest and exemplified the athleticism and raw emotion we have come to expect.
Having exceeded the AFL’s expectations, the foundation has been set for the competition to continue to grow.
The end of the season presents the AFL powers that be with the opportunity to take stock of the competition and look at areas for improvement.
For as exciting as it was, several things need to be looked at to ensure the competition continues to develop.
One important factor is scheduling – both of individual games and the season as a whole.
Taking the latter first, the fact that the AFLW grand final was scheduled for the same weekend as the start of the AFL men’s competition was disappointing, and diminished the significance of the occasion.
Next year, the AFLW should be scheduled to finish before the men start, to give the competition the fresh air it deserves.
The fact the grand final was played as a veritable curtain-raiser to the Gold Coast versus Brisbane game later in the evening was indicative of a problem that has plagued the competition since Round 3, when the ALFW matches competed with the men’s pre-season competition.
In the first two rounds, AFLW matches were scheduled in prime time – in the afternoons or evenings – and received huge patronage and media coverage as a result.
Come the beginning of the JLT series, however, and the women’s matches were shunted to less-than-desirable time slots, many played early morning and as curtain raisers to men’s matches.
Whether intentional or not, this had the effect of positioning the women’s competition as inferior to the men’s, despite the fact the women were playing for premiership points while the men were not.
Next season, AFLW matches should be scheduled as prime-time games, and not made to fit around the vagaries of the JLT fixture.
Free entry is another issue that needs to be looked at. I understand the rationale behind the idea – more fans will come to the games if they are free – and that the AFL was concerned about the competition’s popularity.
However, the resounding success should put paid to the idea that AFLW matches will fail to attract crowds.
Asking fans to pay for entry to meaningless JLT games while AFLW matches remain free again serves to lower the standing of the women’s competition.
With its popularity now evident, the AFL can be confident in the knowledge that attendance will continue to grow, and that asking fans to pay for entry serves to legitimise the competition in the eyes of the public.
AFLW list sizes also became a problem as the rounds wore on, with mounting injuries taking their toll – several teams needed to ask the AFL for permission to top-up their list with players not originally drafted.
Increasing list sizes would provide teams with flexibility to cover for injuries, while also providing more players with an opportunity to play at a professional level.
Finally, and probably the most pressing issue, is the state of the pay deal. If the competition is to become truly professional, all AFLW players need to be fairly compensated for their efforts.
Higher pay would signify not just that the AFL values the contribution of every player, but also recognise the sacrifices many women have to make to play in the competition – taking time out from their full-time roles, moving states at short notice, without all the financial and moral support provided to male AFL players, and so on.
The AFL has said as the AFLW develops and continues to grow, so will the women’s pay packets.
With Cricket Australia recently offering up an attractive pay deal for female players – one which would see the average international cricketer paid $179,000 a season – the heat is on the AFL to make AFLW a financially attractive competition to continue to attract the best talent.
The competition has so much potential. With these issues rectified, I for one am eager to see what these women can create.
Penster
Roar Guru
Games are shorter, less players on the field, smaller ball, females don't kick as far as men ...........
Penster
Roar Guru
A bye is a good way to placate the players who've been baying for more Bye rounds for a while while still amusing (some of) the punters with a bit of footy. The heat was another factor, unbearable as a spectator let alone a player or umpire.
Moonboot
Guest
MDS If Foxtel are going to participate they need to offer something to attract new viewers...
Moonboot
Guest
Ken Spacey Good grief - there are many women playing soccer and basketball on national basis with international competition so a national comp was easy. AFLW has only recently grown to respectable levels in NSW/Qld to enable a national comp in a contact sport so the time was about right you cheap critic. I assume you will criticize the NRL as well
harry houdini
Guest
So what if it was free, when people get in free they spend more on food, beer, merchandise etc or are more likely to. The games are shorter, girls don't kick as far, thats why the scores are lower.
Mathew Stealer
Guest
TWLS where the hell do you get your figures from ?? The AFL?? You may want to read some independent figures for the proper numbers mate
Ken Spacey
Guest
Sorry? Given their resources the AFL should hang their heads in shame for taking so long to do what other sports did yonks ago. You get the impression that Gil is surprised it went well.
pete
Guest
Don't forgot it was free entry during the season. Was the grand final free entry also? How about those low score in games.
Simoc
Guest
You can't see is all you need to say "I ate pies'. Obviously never heard of netball. We haven't watched womens sport because those that run sport have been males with limited vision. Even the brain dead realise that half the population are female. When females start to get a choice they can start to spend as they desire. As womens pay levels (also kept low by men) increase they may choose to watch womens sport. With your foresight 'I ate Pies" we'de still be driving Model T Fords.
Simoc
Guest
Nonsense Onside. Have you been hiding under your bed. Women have been playing footy for many years but all we got to see was those playing with the boys at halftime in AFL footy. They lost nothing in comparison at that age. It wasn't over hyped at all. The point I am trying to make Onside is that your sexist viewpoint is somewhat similar to a cavemans. Grow up!
I hate pies
Guest
TWLS, I'm sure you mean astroturfing.
mds1970
Roar Guru
In theory I like the idea of a stand-alone AFLW Grand Final weekend. In practice, there's two ways to do it. One is to start AFLW a week earlier. But a January start may be a bridge too far weather-wise; and would also put AFLW up against international cricket, the Big Bash and the Australian Open. The other is to push the AFL season back a week. I prefer this option, even though it means the Grand Final will go into October every year. But recent October Grand Finals weren't a problem. The other thing that AFLW needs to look at changing is the selection of FTA TV games. The Giants were only on FTA once in Sydney, the Lions only once in Brisbane. During the AFL season, the FTA games are switched so the local teams in Sydney & SE-Queensland are shown in those cities. This should happen in AFLW as well. Melbourne can have Collingwood or the Bulldogs every week on FTA. But in Sydney, they should be showing the Giants. But overall, AFLW has been a great success. Far more so than anyone could have imagined. It's a learning curve. There's things that can be done even better next time.
Moonboot
Guest
The AFLW was great but the game didn't pay its way so talk of pay increases is premature though advertising should increase next year. To be really controversial (as its the Roar) to be really equal they should publish the players weights as they do in the men...
northerner
Guest
The viewing rights would be up for negotiation. The ratings are in line with A League ratings (they of course have much more content - more games - so their deal is going to be bigger in absolute terms) so a proportion of what the A League gets (they of course have much more content - more games - so their deal is going to be bigger in absolute terms) would seem a good negotiating point. For the rest, I'm not to bothered about investing money earned from the men's version into the women's game to grow the game as a whole. That's how most businesses operate, and if there's good growth potential in the women's game, it makes a lot of economic sense to put some money into that particular pot.
your kidding
Guest
Strange to play the womens final on the opening round weekend. It probably took away a good percentage of the crowd from the Lions vs Suns game as well.
Jennie
Guest
The biggest sports in the part of Australia I'm in are footy and cricket. It helps first of all to be one of those sports I think it is better suited to succeed than women's cricket because women will never be able to bowl as fast as men and there will always be an issue because of that. I don't see a reason women wouldn't be able to bat as well in test cricket say. Clearing the boundaries in T20s a different story. But footy is first and foremost about a contest, a battle of wills, going in to win your own ball, tackling and kicking. I was overall more impressed with the women's tackling. Kicking and handball efficiency will grow over the next 20 years as women grow up playing the game, and are able to develop into full time athletes. Footy is unique in that it requires so many different shapes and sizes and skills. I feel a female competition adds to that landscape. I thought it might be a while until the level of competition was truly compelling, but combining with existing clubs was a very intelligent model, to mobilise existing fan bases. I'm a Crows supporter, and saw 10,000+ to most of our games, which is on par with where Port were a few years ago. I expect the support will grow and I'm very excited to see how the competition takes shape. I absolutely believed it can be viable.
Cat
Roar Guru
Tickets will continue to be free and TV rights negotiations have already been underway.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Micko - I don't doubt that they do. It doesn't change the fact that the AFL Men's Competition funds AFLW from the ground up and also doesn't change my thoughts above. If the AFLW want to see pay increases for its players then I think the logical step is to sell tickets to the fixtures next year and also for the AFL Head Honchos at Docklands HQ to negotiate a TV Rights deal for the competition in its own right. By your reasoning because women pay to watch the AFL somehow this means that AFLW should automatically be paid more is a stretch to say the least. It may surprise you that there might be women watching/attending/paying for the AFL that have no interest in the AFLW.
I ate pies
Guest
Given that no other women's sport in Australia has been able to be a self sufficient professional competition, I can't see how women's footy will be any different.
TWLS
Guest
Glad you mentioned the fact that the AFL is going to approach the TV networks next year about re-nogiating the TV deal. Lots of pressure from the other Womens sports is having an effect. Another point about the AFLW and the grassroots underneath which is having huge numbers of new teams being formed in some areas. The total AFL participation last year was 1,404,000 incl Auskick -195,000- of which Women now make up 30%. That percentage will grow again this year and we are heading for 1,500,000 total numbers either this year or next. There has been anecdotal evidence that the 8 AFL Clubs that have Womens teams are much much better places to be around so it is a win win for the game allround. The AFL boss gets a huge tick for bringing this comp forward 3 years.