Fury over season shrinkage
THE AFL could restrict its women’s competition to an eight-week season next year, despite expanding to a 10team competition.
Players are up in arms about the plan, labelling it a “joke”, “disrespectful” and a “backward step”.
Some clubs are also concerned about fairness.
Eight teams played seven home and away games plus a grand final this year.
But the industry is bracing for a revamped fixture that could see teams compete across a six-week home-andaway season plus two weeks of finals.
Players are already training for next season, without being paid, and one player said their sacrifice for a potentially short season was a “slap in the face”.
The AFLW’s new competition committee will have its first meeting next week. It’s understood the league wants to keep its February-March timeslot, but potentially play the grand final on the weekend before AFL Round 1.
This would mean squeezing eight rounds of action into seven weeks, which could force teams to play three games in the first two weeks.
The decider has been played on the Saturday of the AFL’s opening weekend in the past two seasons.
A two conference model, where the 10 teams are split in half and teams play four games in their group before crossing over for the fifth game, plus two weeks of finals, has also been mooted.
Some players want a nine week season, to play every team once, plus a grand final.
The AFL is continuing to negotiate a broadcast deal for the competition, but with both Fox and Channel 7 broadcasting cricket this summer, the TV sporting calendar is full.