With four new teams entering the AFL Women’s competition next year, this will mean a few things – two additional matches in a round, and the potential for Friday double headers.
This comes just twelve months after the league expanded from its original eight-team roster, with the Geelong Cats and North Melbourne making their debut last year.
Next year, the Gold Coast Suns, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast Eagles will join the league, and with that, you can bet that there will be a number of new blockbuster match-ups to look forward to, not least the QClashes and the Western Derbies.
But while the structure and/or conferences for next year’s draw have yet to be announced, I have given my best shot at what I think the first round next year should look like, and it promises to be massive.
As is the case in the men’s competition, Richmond and Carlton will kick off the new season in front of what is expected to be a massive crowd at Punt Road Oval, with this to double as the Tigers’ first match.
The Tigers have recruited strongly ahead of their first season, landing former Western Bulldogs captain Katie Brennan as well as forwards Sabrina Frederick-Traub and Christina Bernardi from the Brisbane Lions and GWS Giants respectively, thus making them a team to watch under coach Tom Hunter.
Meantime, the Blues will be hoping to build on a strong 2019 season which saw them recover from losing their first two matches of the season to reach the grand final, which they lost to the Adelaide Crows in front of over 53,000 fans at the Oval.
Tayla Harris of the Blues (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
I have scheduled the season opener to start at 6:10pm as part of a Friday double header, with the other match to see the reigning premiers, the Adelaide Crows, unfurl their premiership flag in front of their home fans with a blockbuster against Collingwood at Norwood Oval.
It will be the first time the Crows, premiers in two of the first three AFL Women’s seasons, play the Pies at home, with the two previous meetings between the clubs having been played in Melbourne, while the two teams didn’t meet at all in 2019.
As for the other three new clubs, St Kilda will debut with a home game against the GWS Giants at Moorabbin Oval, while the Gold Coast Suns and West Coast Eagles will not be required to travel for their debut games against the Brisbane Lions and Fremantle respectively.
The first edition of the women’s QClash would be played at Metricon Stadium, which would be the first time an AFL Women’s game has been played there since the 2017 grand final.
The Western Derby, on the other hand, would be played at Lathlain Park, the training ground of the Eagles’ men’s team, with the likelihood that Optus Stadium will be unavailable due to the cricket.
The other two matches will see foundation clubs Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs face off at Casey Fields on the Saturday; this will leave this year’s debutants, the Geelong Cats and North Melbourne, to face each other on the Sunday at Kardinia Park.
As far as television rights are concerned, the Seven Network will continue to televise two matches a round, while all the interstate clubs will be televised live into their respective markets.
Thus, here is what Round 1 of the 2020 AFL Women’s season should look like:
Friday, January 31
Richmond vs Carlton at Punt Road Oval, 6:10pm
Adelaide Crows vs Collingwood at Norwood Oval, 7:40pm (local)*
Saturday, February 1
Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs at Casey Fields, 3:10pm
St Kilda vs GWS Giants, Moorabbin Oval, 5:10pm
Gold Coast Suns vs Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium, 6:10pm (local)*
Sunday, February 2
Geelong Cats vs North Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium, 2:10pm
West Coast Eagles vs Fremantle at Lathlain Park, 1:10pm (local)
* denotes a match to be televised on Channel Seven.
Note: No match will be played in Melbourne in the Saturday evening timeslot so as to avoid a clash with the 2020 Australian Open women’s singles final.
Steve J
Roar Guru
Yep, so AFLW is allowing no organic growth, just forcing the yawn of the AFL on amother supposed national comp
Steve J
Roar Guru
Yawn, go and genuflect to your cuz idol
dontknowmuchaboutfootball
Guest
Lathlain Park is too small anyway. Capacity has been reduced significantly by the second oval.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
A lot of experts in women's footy were very surprised Carlton got a licence for the inaugural season as many felt Geelong, North Melbourne and St Kilda all had stronger cases. The suspicion was the AFL got seduced by the prospect of Pies v Blues matches and thus awarded Carlton a licence when they perhaps weren't ready. For women's sport it seems it can be a tricky balancing act between trying to create their own organic rivalries vs tapping into rivalries in the mens game to try and grow their audience.
Larrikin
Roar Rookie
Steve J is obviously a gross Eagles hater , maybe its the success and he's jealous who cares. Being a very proud West Coast long time member Ive now also joined the Eagles ladies inaugural team and wish them all the best and if there half as fantastic as the mighty Eagles men's team they will cause opposition teams plenty of problems , go West Coast!!
Steve J
Roar Guru
Not sure why West Coast should be given a home game Western Derby as their introduction to the AFLW. Freo when they joined the AFL played at the MCG against Richmond in their first game, and in the AFLW they travelled to play at the Western Oval against the Doggies in their first match. West Coast also got to host the first Western Derby in 1995 If Optus is busy in round 1 then have the derby when it is not booked and let Freo have the hosting rights. Simple West Coast don't deserve a red carpet to be rolled out for them Opening with Richmond v Carlton is a snub to the A in AFLW and just seeks to reinforce the mindset of an expanded VFL. The AFLW should embrace other teams, although they seem to be wedded to the Carlton v Collingwood match up to start the AFLW season
Waiting
Guest
I have to admit the addition of 4 new teams will probably make for a far more interesting season on paper - i just hope such a rapid expansion over two seasons doesn't dilute the talent because one thing the AFLW id think dont want is uncompetitive teams that would be booted out of mid-range country leagues - as supportive of the league as I am my interest is pretty low as it is because of the lack of quality which i was prepared potentially could take 10 or more years to improve as more girls take on AFL past the auskick stage and get the same coaching and development available to the boys - i just fear the AFL doesnt have the same patience and we may have too many genuinely unwatchable games.