The AFL Commission today announced it would maintain the NAB AFL Women’s competition as an eight-team league for the 2018 season, with expansion to occur for the 2019 season.
AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said the Commission, after seeking further information from its meeting in Sydney last month, had accepted a recommendation from the AFL Executive that consolidation was required for the second year of the competition in 2018. Further talent identification and development, along with continued work to build the fan base of all clubs, was needed as a key priority to enable extra teams to enter the league in 2019.
Mr McLachlan said that all 10 Clubs that are currently not licensed to compete in the NAB AFL Women’s Competition would be invited to submit an application (date to be confirmed) for inclusion in the 2019 competition, with a final decision to be made by the Commission that will be subject to a number of strategic considerations. Those Clubs that were granted provisional licenses (Geelong Cats, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast) will receive priority weighting when consideration is given to the submissions for inclusion in the competition in 2019.