League stands by ladder sysem

THE AFL failed to factor in significant player movement between clubs when it allocated teams into its controversial women’s league conferences, according to Western Bulldogs football boss Debbie Lee.

The league is backing its conference system, despite the likelihood of lesser-performed teams playing finals ahead of better-credentialed rivals.

AFLW chief Nicole Livingstone said the league had no plans to revert to a conventional single ladder for its 10team competition.

A clear divide has emerged, with conference A teams registering 12 wins and conference B sides just three. There have been nine conference crossover games, with A teams winning every one and on average doubling the score of their conference B rivals.

The top two teams from each conference will qualify for the preliminary finals.

Livingstone linked the unbalanced conferences to the AFLW’s “unpredictable” nature. But Lee said more weight should have been given to club lists, rather than simply looking at 2018 ladder position to determine the conferences.

“There was a risk doing the conference system,” Lee said.

“I would have re-thought how the teams were put into conferences. There wasn’t enough consideration around the lists, the player movement.

“If you finished first, if you finished second and you split them, that wasn’t even going to work because of the player movement.

“You can see teams that have lost players aren’t performing as well as they did last year, and that’s as clear as day.

“If we had a conference system and Melbourne was in conference B and North Melbourne was in conference B (both are in conference A), I don’t think we’d be having this conversation.”