I’ve changed my mind.
When at first the AFLW started floating the prospect of a rapid expansion toward 14 teams, with an eye to the eventual inclusion of the four remaining after that (Essendon, Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide) I was strongly opposed.
The fledgling women’s competition, I thought, had nowhere near enough talented players to make such a policy work.
The AFL created the AFLW off the strength of several exhibition games between 2014 and 2016 between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Demons that were essentially all-star games featuring all the best players in the women’s game.
The product on display in those games, the AFL saw, was clearly something marketable — highly skilled with fast, end-to-end action.
But when Season One rolled around, it was clear that that wasn’t what the AFLW was getting. The talent in those two exhibition teams had been spread thin across eight new clubs, creating a standard of play far below that which the AFL had been banking on.
AFLW standard is still trying to get back to the level of those early exhibition games.
Arguably in some ways it never will — no one plays serious defence in an all-star game, and there’s no flooding and no defensive webs set to choke the kick-ins.
Some of the AFLW’s anti-congestion rule changes today reflect an attempt by the AFL to rediscover the excitement of those early games, as though they’re wondering where the product they thought they were buying has gotten to, and if it will ever return.
And yet, despite witnessing the obvious and inevitable fall in standard from those early exhibitions, and facing the even more obvious fact that further expansion will spread the talent pool thinner again, I’ve changed my mind about whether it’s a good idea. Now, I’m all on board.
Mel Hickey will captain Geelong’s new AFLW side (Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images)
So why?
Mostly it’s because I’ve seen a glimpse of what’s coming.
The AFLW’s inception brought about a ridiculous explosion in female junior numbers, and though the bulk of that talent won’t reach the AFLW for many years yet, the first signs are exciting.
Put simply, there are girls coming down the pipeline who are going to be much better than any player currently playing, and there’s going to be a lot of them.
These girls are going to create a very different brand of football in the AFLW from what’s presently on the park, and that product, I’m increasingly confident, is going to be a lot more marketable than what’s currently been played, increasingly fun though that is.
That future standard can’t be reached early by reducing the number of teams.
Think about it. The players we currently think of as being ‘ten out of ten’ will in the future likely only be regarded as sevens and eights out of ten.
And the next level down, the ones we’d presently call sevens and eights out of ten, are against this future standard going to be really just fours and fives.
If you reduce the number of teams, that won’t turn sevens into tens, and fours into sevens. It’ll eliminate the players below that level, sure, and set a minimum standard for the AFLW, but it can’t set the maximum standard because no matter how you concentrate the existing talent in fewer teams, they’ll never be as good as the best players in five or ten years time.
Those players have been born, for sure, but they’re currently skinny teenagers or pre-teens with acne and braces.
Some of them might even be Sydney, Port, Hawthorn or Essendon fans, and haven’t yet been inspired to take up the game.
And herein lies the problem with keeping the league small.
Getting to that future high standard has to be the AFLW’s greatest priority, because it’s only that standard that is going to gain the public and financial support it requires to become the competition of full-time athletes that it aspires to be.
This means doing everything possible to increase the size of the talent pool, even if that means sacrificing some playing standard right now.
The main thing that seems to increase the talent pool is giving girls in communities across Australia a local team to follow, as anecdotally at least a lot of girls only seem to get interested once their own favourite AFL side has a women’s team.
Those AFL clubs also have development regions, and established pathways for juniors from club academies and so on.
All of the clubs are now including girls in those pathways to some degree, but obviously the incentive to develop the female game will be much higher for clubs who at the very least expect to soon be participating in the AFLW.
The more clubs are in the AFLW, the more money and effort will be put into talent identification and development in footballing regions across Australia, contributing to finding those essential junior stars of the future.
There’ll need to be enough of those juniors to eventually fill the rosters of 18 AFLW teams, but the way junior participation is increasing, that doesn’t seem unlikely.
In Queensland, for instance, girls’ junior participation is catching boys’ participation at such a rate it seems likely to soon surpass it — no surprise, given that the total Queensland boys’ talent pool remains dominated by rugby.
If the same thing continues in NSW as well, we could see more junior girls than boys playing footy Australia-wide within the next ten years or less — assuming, of course, that rugby doesn’t similarly split the female talent pool in Queensland and NSW to the same degree.
In the meantime, yes, playing standards in the AFLW will be lower than could otherwise have been the case.
But standards are still improving rapidly in spite of this year’s expansion (as I’m confident Season 2019 will demonstrate) and will likely improve again even with the big expansion of 2020 – though given the state-by-state nature of the AFLW, the Dockers and Eagles may be in some difficulty, as Western Australian talent stocks run temporarily thin.
But next year’s Queensland draft is going to be a monster, boding well for the Lions and Suns, and next year’s Victorian crop will be better again than this year’s, which was in turn many times stronger than last year’s.
Yo pull the handbrake on that momentum for junior growth in the hope of squeezing a higher standard out of fewer teams with less-talented players today seems like mortgaging the future to pay for the present.
Downsey
Roar Pro
Late to the conversation, but come on, IAP: “In the past girls didn’t need to be masculine to prove themselves… They liked being girls and playing other sports.” What?! That's laden in antiquated beliefs about gender. As for “Girls aren’t the future of footy, boys are”... Tell that to the footy mums and female AFL members. Growing the AFLW goes a long way to keeping faith with women, and ensuring they continue to have the greatest attendance growth in modern times.
E-Meter
Roar Rookie
Expansion of the AFLW is the silliest thing I’ve heard since the A-League have proposed the same thing. There’s not enough quality players to fill 3 teams, let alone 14.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#IAP The quotes were contextually quite different - my reference to 'jealous or sexist' criticism was as 'other criticism' outside of 'unfair and shortsighted'. At no point did I suggest ALL “Criticism of AFLW is due to jealousy or sexism”....just some. I'm not sure why you'd want to argue that. Clearly some is - and I suggest the 'jealousy' element is from some followers of other sports (soccer for one!!). The importance of female participation - look off shore - I'm a big fan of the organic growth of the game internationally. It's quite one thing to get some blokes playing the game in say Canada or the USofA. And both those nations have sent mens team to each AFL International Cup from 2002 to 2017 (every 3 years). But - when we saw in 2014 BOTH USofA and Canada touring 2 womens sides each (and that year both got incorporated into the Womens div) and then again in 2017 (but only the 'A' teams were in the Womens div - while the 'B' teams played against local Vic womens sides) - - there is a market and being able to appeal to both males and females is huge - - it also means in schools and where juniors comps are run - - that it's an all encompassing activity. The Euro Cup 9s tournaments in Europe run mens and womens too - the Danish Vikings joined by the Danish Valkyries for example. So - for future proofing I'm thinking outside of the region bounded by the Barassi -line. The AFLW has inspired Irish, Canadian and American women to come to Australia and give it a crack. "Of course a 13 year old girl did well against boys; boys haven’t matured yet. Let’s see how she goes against 20 year old men. Your example is irrelevant to this debate." So - - is your whole position that womens sport is unworthy because the men will beat them? I think you've missed the boat entirely. My assertion is that there are girls playing the game who while they won't develop male strength - they will be able to develop mastery in all other areas (skills, nous, style....just not brute force). "there’s always been opportunities to play for those who wanted to play." No - and that was the issue - as little as 15-16 years ago. What there had been in Australian football circles was a ban on girls playing in 'mixed' teams past the age of 12, that got changed to 14 after a court case in 2003. Outside of that - there was pretty well zero focus on girls pathways first from age 12 and even after the case from age 14. Girls were pushed off to netball or basketball - just ask Erin Phillips (now she IS a gun player and a gun athlete). The womens leagues were seen as a bit of a curiousity and never given any encouragement. I really think the AFL was embarrassed about womens participation and perhaps concerned about injury risk etc. However - when soccer normalised girls in footy boots - suddenly attitudes began to change (why? market share, access to Govt funding and ability to leverage Govt support).
IAP
Guest
The VWFL has been around since 1981. Women’s footy wasn’t invented 5 years ago; there’s always been opportunities to play for those who wanted to play. The assertion that women haven’t been able to play once they get over 13 is false.
Zeppa
Guest
I thought the rounder the ball the easier to control? Hence why soccer is easy for beginners.
Cat
Roar Guru
A top level league does mean it is as 'elite' as the top level of a different league. It just means it is the top level. It is quite sexist and misogynistic to think that women who have not been able to play footy widely and consistently from Auskick through 18 year olds were any chance to be as good as the blokes who have been looked after, groomed, taught and trained since they could walk. Expecting the same level when the pathways are so radically different is just looking for an excuse to hate. IAP, you quite clearly had your mind made up before a ball was ever bounced. As for 'the standard' being acceptable ... plenty of people for watch VFL, SanFL, WAFL, NEAFL, Tac Cup and various other leagues across the country and all of them are below AFL standard. I try to get to several Geelong VFL games every year. I don't crap on them because they aren't as good as AFL sides, I just engage my brain, use a bit of common sense and adjust my expectations and then quite enjoy myself.
Cat
Roar Guru
I still say the AFL has to rethink using a size 4 ball. VFLW used to use a size 4.5 ball until AFLW came along. The smaller the ball, the rounder it is and the harder it is to control. My Masters (super rules) club has a woman's side now and I compared their balls to ours. Their brand new balls are similar shape to our worn out ones that have lost their shape. The size 4 is also too light, sure women don't tend to be as long a kick as men but a lighter ball just highlights skill errors even more.
IAP
Guest
Are you mad? You're saying that I misquoted you, then you put your original quote forward which is the same at the quote that I used, just paraphrased! Or are you suggesting that people who make jealous and sexist statements are somehow not actually jealous or sexist? Yes I understand the nature of future-proofing, but I disagree with your assertion. Girls aren't the future of footy, boys are. Always have been, always will be. There's never been any money in female sporting leagues, even in much larger markets than here, so there's no reason to expect this one to be any different. Money drives the world; the AFL generates cash, the AFLW doesn't. It's quite simple really, you know it's true, you just don't want it to be. Of course a 13 year old girl did well against boys; boys haven't matured yet. Let's see how she goes against 20 year old men. Your example is irrelevant to this debate. As far as the first month of footy goes, did you actually read what I wrote? Even at the start of the season the standard of the AFL is far and away better than any other league. Even if it wasn't it doesn't equate to making the standard of the AFLW acceptable. This argument is just obfuscation.
Paul D
Roar Guru
IAP is just a garden variety misogynist - women shouldn't play sport, traditional gender roles etc. He's not representative of any views worth worrying about.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#IAP First point - if you're going to quote me then get that bit right. My quote was: "Most has been unfair and shortsighted and other criticisms just purely jealous or sexist." which is quite different to what you portrayed: “Criticism of AFLW is due to jealousy or sexism” Talk about lazy!! Your rebuttal re standard I find odd - I've followed AFL/VFL for over 40 years and played footy most of that time and it is obvious to (using an old phrase) 'Blind Freddy' that the first month of the AFL season is generally characterized by scrappier play by players who are rusty. The irony is the debate about killing off the preseason - if that were to happen, then it would be even scrappier. Which - relates to my point - contrast the AFL preseason to the AFLW preseason. The AFLW is a far shortage package for these women. They are not full time professionals, they have other jobs, they are getting paid more than they have before. Is it 'elite'? Regarding womens Australian Football it is 'elite preparation'. What is most obvious is the defensive preparations are challenging the ball skills. I'm pretty confident there is a generation of female players coming through the system who will handle this much better.....a generation of Daisy Pearce types? If you don't understand the important of the future proofing discussion then I suspect you're a head in the sand type. Australian football does NOT operate in a vacuum. It is under pressure from all sides like never before - and it's been under massive pressure since the 1880s when migrants from England were importing the Rugby Football Union game and the English Association Football Game. Money right now is only so much of the equation. Another anecdote - not far from where I live is a very Catholic northern suburbs Melbourne school - pretty well a soccer school - they were very proud of their FIFA accredited synthetic pitch and they have no oval on campus. However - about 3 years ago in the local paper they made news because - - - of their girls (Australian) footy program. The demand from girls to play the game is increasing - and - in part because young girls now know that they can aspire to the game, they don't have to play basketball or netball or soccer because the Australian Football fraternity had shut the door on them. re decent quality junior competitions for girls - well - there are - I've umpired several girls games in 2018 across a couple of age ranges - and - just like the boys, there are those making up the numbers and there are those who are absolute 'jets' and in the higher age groups you see those names in the rep squads and they do stuff that equates to what the boys do. That too I know - because - anecdote again - a couple of years back one of my sons was playing U13s age group and the best player in their side was a girl and she wasn't butch but she was courageous and smart and determined and understood the game. I'm hoping to see her go all the way!!
The Joy Of X
Roar Rookie
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/11/15/aflw-talent-pool-set-to-explode-over-the-next-few-years/ The views of Daisy Pearce and Tim Watson, and their reasoning, support that AFLW skill levels will continue to rise each year- even when expansion occurs.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Who can ever forget the sight of 24,000 fans filling Princes Park for the first ever womens AFL game, and the sight of the CEO telling another 500 or so fans waiting outside that it was a lock out and no more could come in. If you're involved in another sport, of course you're going to be jealous and frustrated.
IAP
Guest
Geez there's a lot of assertions here that are wrong. I'll just focus on a few: - "Criticism of AFLW is due to jealousy or sexism". That's just lazy analysis. People don't have to like women's footy. Not liking it doesn't make them sexist. The standard has been abysmal; for a competition that promotes itself as elite, it's been anything but, so the criticism has been justified. Women are not beyond reproach, certainly in an equitable world. - "Demand was building". No, the AFL rushed the league at least 2 years ahead of when they were going to launch it because they wanted something to put up against the BBL. Market presence drove it, nothing else. - "The standard..the AFL season starts pretty scrappy". This is just not true. The AFL takes a couple of weeks to get into full swing, but during this period the standard is still far greater than any other competition. There is no comparison to AFLW, and it doesn't excuse the poor standard. -"The future proofing of the code is a key point". No it's not. The rise of women's footy will no future proof the code. Getting boys involved and providing the next generation of talent for the AFL will future proof the code. There's lot's of money in the AFL; there's non in AFLW. - "Girls kicking the footy when in the past they were too embarrassed". That's revisionist history. In the past girls didn't need to be masculine to prove themselves (unlike now), so they weren't at all interested in playing footy. They liked being girls and playing other sports. As far as the quality of the game goes, the expansion will no doubt make it worse in the short term. Until there's decent quality junior competitions for girls to play in the quality will remain poor. Not that it'll make any difference - no matter how good it gets, it'll never be close to local league men's standards and it'll never be anything more than a niche sport on TV.
TomC
Roar Guru
Great response. Thanks Joel.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
I've been astounded by the criticisms of the AFW since it began. Most has been unfair and shortsighted and other criticisms just purely jealous or sexist. The reality is that the demand was building and that encouraged the AFL to lay down the road map to a national comp. The demand then ballooned and that encouraged the AFL to bring that time frame forward. That is a supply and demand equation - so the AFL hasn't forced this on anyone. The standard - well, we know the AFL season starts with pretty scrappy play in the first weeks as players settle into roles and build up match fitness and new players to the system adjust to the pace. Well - that happens in the AFLW also - however, most haven't even had 20 weeks to adjust. The step up from the local leagues to the AFLW is big - and includes access to facilities, coaching and training that is pretty well all new. Just don't be pigheaded and whinge about the 'standard of play' within the first 2 or 3 weeks of an AFLW season - that's just patently unfair. The future proofing of the code is a key point. Keep mindful that through the 2000s that Association football (soccer) experienced a growth in participation underpinned by female participation. They then claimed to be the biggest participation code by reporting the combined tally. The Matilda's of recent times are proof of that surge. Perhaps the Socceroos are proof too that the mens game didn't have a major surge because they still seem to be treading water (at best.....arguably gone backwards since the heady days of 2006 in Kaiserslautern knocking over Japan. For Australian Football - the challenge was to not be frozen out. Government policy through the 2000s (including local Govt re funded grants) was very favourable to female participation. Australian Football had in many places a symbiotic relationship with Netball; such that many local clubs are "FNC" clubs (Football Netball Club). This especially played out in the traditional heartlands of the code. My anecdote here is the Lindenow Football Netball Club in East Gippsland. They have all their resources (people and facilities) tied up in the boys/mens footy teams and the girls/womens netball. They just do not have the scope to run girls footy. Who will build them a new oval? Who will provide them the additional volunteers to run the additional sides. And would it come at the expense of the netball? However - the hand of the AFL was forced on this front too. And so the AFL jumped in to the water tentatively with the initially AFLW road map. The response though was the very pleasant surprise that I don't think the AFL had anticipated. And now we see girls footy and womens footy becoming the norm. I've seen young girls growing up suddenly playing or umpiring footy that I never would have anticipated. I've seen a bunch of girls at a friends gathering - suddenly having a kick of the footy that in the past they might have been too embarrassed to join in let alone instigate. This is a good news story. And the most recent stats put the AFL right back in the ball park with the FFA on 'football' participation. There's not necessarily an apples with apples comparison - but - the AFL ('game', not 'league') numbers have jumped so much that - in response - we suddenly saw an NRL womens SoO match even though there wasn't a significant underlying competition. The 2 Rugby codes had been left in the dust - however - there was generally a strong 'Touch' female demographic. I suspect in Queensland womens footy (somehow it HAS been strong there ahead of trend - even going back 10 years) might have stolen the march on the Rugby codes - I expect that to 'normalize' in future years as the womens Rugby League gains momentum.
Beni Iniesta
Guest
Ah, check your facts, it was actually 8 clubs that began in the VFL - and 6 of them remain unchanged in their original form - South Melbourne moved to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans and Fitzroy were merged into the Brisbane Bears and became the Brisbane Lions. The other 6 have been there pretty much 120 years +. A remarkable achievement.
Maximus Insight
Guest
Ha! They're not mutually exclusive though!
Joel Shepherd
Roar Guru
Yep, this is the next big challenge. Daisy Pearce says that if the players could play at the highest level twice as long, they'd improve twice as fast, and I've no doubt she's right.
Joel Shepherd
Roar Guru
Oh yeah... and when I said talent levels had fallen, I meant between the early exhibition games and Season One. The challenge since then has been to get it climbing upward as fast as possible, and I don't think expansion is hurting that process as much as some have made out.
Joel Shepherd
Roar Guru
I'm saying, I think, that there are two ways to improve competition standard. One is to cut back the number of teams, which improves the standard by eliminating the bottom-level talent because those players can no longer get a game. But that approach will only remove the worst players -- it does nothing to produce the best players, who are still to come from somewhere up the junior pipeline. So you'll have less bad players, but you won't have more good ones. Or you can focus on talent development in pursuit of improving standards by increasing the number of elite players as fast as possible -- which is not THAT fast, because kids only grow old one year at a time. Obviously neither approach is a zero sum game, having less teams would still involve lots of junior talent development, but the AFL seems to think that having less roster slots available would lessen incentives for all kinds of athletes to participate, and I think they're right. The talent outreach by AFLW sides right now is phenomenal -- girls coming in from Ireland, girls changing from rugby, basketball, netball, etc. If there were fewer clubs and less roster positions, how much less hard would AFLW sides be pushing on all these fronts? How much less incentive would there be in girls junior comps across the country to train hard and get an AFLW spot? You read it again and again in interviews with the juniors -- there's expansion coming, and lots of positions will be available, there's never been a better chance of making the AFLW. All of it is driving the wave, dangling the carrot in front of all these prospective players, and all that talent outreach is developing pathways that will hopefully become large and permanent. The danger of cutting back the number of teams is that it lessens the size and power of those pathways, so that instead of getting a flood pouring down a big channel, you've got a trickle being sucked through a straw. By going big early, the AFL eliminate the risk that those channels won't develop as big and as early as they could. Add to that the fact that when I look over this year's lists I'm convinced that the overall talent level in every club this year has increased by about %20... and if that continues, playing standards doing it this way will be fine, despite a few bumps along the way.