AFLW finals series call

MELBOURNE captain Daisy Pearce says a finals series needs to be introduced to the AFLW next season and has raised the idea of games being played as curtain raisers during the opening rounds of the men’s season.

The league decided against implementing a finals series this year, again sticking with the format of the inaugural AFLW which saw the top two teams automatically progress to a grand final. However, with North Melbourne and Geelong set to join the competition in 2019 – increasing the number of teams to 10 – Pearce said a top-four finals series was a must and she saw no reason why AFLW could not run into the men’s season.

“It (finals) just creates that extra engagement and when you’re talking about all the metrics of viewership and audience I think it would only be a positive for that,” Pearce said.

“I know they’re treading carefully early on not to make the season too long and trying to avoid overlap with the men’s season but my view would be by the time you’re at this stage in the season people are engaged in the competition already and I think that would carry on regardless of the AFL men’s season starting. If you got clever with fixturing and timing of games you could work around it and I think it would be a positive outcome.”

The AFL has also opened up the possibility of playing more curtain-raiser games before men’s matches by shortening on-field warm-up time for clubs this season.

Pearce said if the AFLW season was expanded she “wouldn’t say no” to playing a curtain-raiser on a ground like the MCG during Round 1.

“It would be a pretty exciting atmosphere I think,” she said.

“I know as a footy fan when you get to Round 1 there is no such thing as too much footy so I think the appetite would be there for the fans that are already engaged with AFLW and want to see their team’s finals campaign and then the general AFL fans that would just watch anything. I think it would be great to have a curtain raiser.”