The 2020 AFLW season will start with the blockbuster clash between Richmond and Carlton at Melbourne’s Ikon Park in February.
A double-header featuring the men’s and women’s teams of GWS and Geelong is one of several innovations featured in the 2020 AFLW season fixture schedule.
The Giants will host the Cats at Giants Stadium on Saturday, March 21, with the women up first in the night fixture.
It will be the opening round of the AFL men’s season and round seven of the AFLW campaign that kicks off with Richmond taking on Carlton at Ikon Park on Friday, February 7.
VIEW THE FULL 2020 AFLW FIXTURE HERE
“To have all four teams there (men and women) will be a really great experience,” said AFLW chief Nicole Livingstone, after the fixture list was released on Tuesday.
“It also gives us an opportunity to get to more fans … we saw a lot more AFL fans last season come across to AFLW.
“The feedback from clubs was they would like to see their teams playing on the same day, not only for an opportunity to build their audience but also from a resource and staffing point of view.”
Collingwood’s AFLW team will also battle the Western Bulldogs in Morwell and the inaugural AFLW local derby between Gold Coast and Brisbane at Metricon Stadium takes place on the same day the respective men’s team’s play a pre-season competition match.
Livingstone hinted there could be more double-headers announced when the men’s fixture list is released on Thursday.
Months of tense negotiations over an AFLW collective bargaining agreement ended when details of the new deal were announced on Monday.
With the Tigers one of four new teams added to the competition, the season will expand to eight home-and-away rounds with three weeks of finals, with the grand final to be held on Saturday April 18.
The 2019 season was run across seven rounds with two weeks of finals.
Livingstone reaffirmed the league’s strong position on retaining the contentious two-conference system for 2020 and beyond.
New teams Gold Coast and West Coast were allocated to the same conference as their local rivals Brisbane and Fremantle, with Richmond placed in conference A and St Kilda into conference B.
Martin
Roar Rookie
AFLW sustains more teams at the expense of having professional players paid more money.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
What is the gap between games? If it is 1 hour or so then not a lot of extra spectators will show up for the earlier game!
Martin
Roar Rookie
Not quite a sellout because the AFL just dictates to the TV broadcasters we’re expanding to 10 teams, and now 14 and then whatever number in future.
Gary
Roar Rookie
Now, only Essendon, Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide don't have an AFLW team... not sure when/if they will be introduced. Why is there a StKilda and North Melbourne team in the over crowded Melbourne market? It beggars belief the AFL would repeat the same mistake with the women's league... or, perhaps it doesn't. You would think the AFL would put Essendon, and Hawthorn, 2 big clubs, in ahead of small, and poor, clubs like StK and North... and then see if there is sufficient talent, and interest, to sustain more Melbourne teams. As always, Melbourne interests trump that of the "national" competition.
IAP
Guest
In your opinion anyway. The crowd figures don't lie. I for one would much rather watch men's cricket than watch women chuck slow-motion pies on roundabouts, but I'd rather watch netball than basketball. Each to their own.
Shane
Guest
Tv rights telling the AFL how many games they will play, actually. It's a disgrace. Gil is a sellout, and stalling the development of the women's game at the behest of his corporate masters at MCC, Fox and Seven. What a pathetic little man he is.
Shane
Guest
Some backward types do, Ian. Women's league and union is arguably better to watch than the men's. In many ways, women's tennis presents more than your standard serve net game of many men. Netball is infinitely more enjoyable than basketball. Women's cricket is hitting the men's in Australia for six. It's sad there are a few who just don't rate women, but don't speak for the rest of us.
Larrikin
Roar Rookie
looking forward to the West Coast team compete for the first time , a new era for the club - go the mighty Eagles !
IAP
Guest
That's pretty much the crux of the issue for women's sports - people don't value it as highly as men's sports so they're not willing to pay as much for it as they do for men's sports. It's always been the same - all the way around the world women's sports, especially team sports, just don't draw a crowd. Even the WNBA operates at a loss. How can this be fixed? It can't. People want to watch sport at the highest level; men especially want to watch sport at a level that they can't play at themselves. For all the fanfare the AFLW is the same; they'll never get big crowds, even though they wear the jumpers of AFL clubs, which I suspect accounts for at least half of their crowds. That means, on average, about 3,000 people turn up because they want to watch women play footy. That's about on par with other women's sports leagues.
GibbonRib
Roar Rookie
Obviously the season is far too short, but we knew that wans’t going to change for a few years. But the biggest disappointment is that they’ve retained the awful conference system, which was a compete debacle last year. Geelong qualified for the finals with a 3-4 record while North, with a 5-2 record missed out. The whole thing was an utter shambles and universally criticised, yet they’ve kept it again out of sheer stuborness. Unfathomably stupid decision.
GibbonRib
Roar Rookie
Not sure or is good for the women. My daughter wanted to see some W Legaue games last season, but the double headers made that impossible because of 1) cost and 2) really bad kick off times for the women's game. I'd rather see them as standalone games at decent times in suitable venues at an affordable price.
Maximus insight
Guest
1. Money 2. Sustainable growth
Maximus insight
Guest
On The Brain of Wanderers Fans Giants
Brian
Guest
14 teams play 8 games each wtf Why not play 13 rounds with a top 4.
josh
Guest
Inner Western Sydney and Canberra Giants.
XI
Roar Guru
Excited for the double-header. Here's hoping we get the double over the Cats.
IAP
Guest
This double-header idea (where have the seconds gone?) will be the litmus test. Will people turn up to watch the women or will the file through the gates halfway through the last quarter? If the W-League is any indicator they'll turn up halfway through the last. I'm sure the AFL will count the AFL crowd as the AFLW crowd as well. This is potentially good for the women, but the majority of footy fans would love to see the reserves play instead of the women, like it used to be.
Penster
Roar Guru
Double header is excellent value for fans, this is heading in the right direction. Dislike GWS playing middle of Feb early afternoon in Blacktown tho, crushing heat, prefer the torrential thunderstorms of Drummoyne!