The 2018 AFL Womens season is less than 30 days away, with Carlton v Collingwood on Friday night, February 2 at Ikon Park. Heres what you need to know about the 2018 season.
The Teams
There have been no changes to the number of teams for the 2018 season, 2 teams will be added in 2019 (The North/Tas hybrid and Geelong) and 4 in 2020.
The Fixture
Like last season, there will not be a finals series, only a Grand Final.
- No double headers with JLT series matches in 2018.
- Melbourne v Collingwood will be played at Traeger park. This is partly to support their ongoing programs in the NT area.
- No games at Victoria Park for the Pies, however they will play a match at Moe.
- All Adelaide based Adelaide games will be at Norwood Oval, with Thebarton Oval being dropped from the programe,
- Like last year, the Giants will play one game in Canberra. while Adelaide will play one game in Darwin.
- Full fixture here.
Ticketing
- All matches remain free to enter, except for Fremantle v Collingwood at Perth Stadium, where a $2 charge will be incurred.
Broadcasting
- 1 match per week on a Satuday night, plus the season opening game will be shown on 7 or 7mate.
- Local games in SA and WA will likely be shown on FTA as per last season, this does not extend to Qld or NSW except where they feature on Saturday night.
- All matches will be shown on Foxtel.
- All matches will be shown live and free on the AFL website and associated app.
- Full broadcast guide here.
The Rules
Three rule changes apply for the 2018 season.
- The AFL has decided to modify the out of bounds rule, now a player will give away a free kick if they kick or handball the ball over the boundary line without it being touched by an opposition player.
- a reduction of interchange players from six to five, meaning teams will now have 21 players in total (16 on the field plus five interchange)
- the implementation of time-on for the last two minutes of each quarter.
List Changes
Some big AFLW movements occurred over the off season through various trades. Carlton traded picks for Nicola Stevens from Collingwood, and signed Tayla Harris from Brisbane, while losing Nat Exon and Isabella Ayre to Brisbane and Bianca Jakobsson to Melbourne, who traded Deanna Berry to the Bulldogs as part of a 3 way trade.
Melbourne later traded Pepa Randall to GWS for Ashleigh Guest. Collingwood would get Jamie Lambert from the Dogs, while the Giants would gain Alicia Eva from Collingwood in another 3 way trade.
Womens Pay
- Total player payments will increase by $500,000 next year under a revised tiered payment system that sees the minimum wage of a senior listed player rise from $8,500 to $10,500. However, it should be noted that it amounts to a 36 per cent increase in contracted hours, but only a 20.96 per cent increase in total player payments.
- Tier 1 players have received an 17.6 per cent bump, from $17,000 to $20,000, tier 2 rises from $12,000 to $14,500 (up 20 per cent) while the base wage is now $10,500, up from $8500 (up 23 per cent).
- The base wage on the current deal was due to increase from $8500 to $9276, tier 2 $12,000 to $12,846 and from $17,000 to $17,946 for tier one players.
- The players will now commit 13-15 hours per week during pre-season and 10 hours in season. Match day hours are on top of the 10-hour week.
- Clubs also have a marquee budget they can allocate to their most marketable players, ranging from $5000 to $10,000 per player, with a cap of $40,000 per team.
- Players have signed 24-week contracts, which includes two weeks of annual leave.
- Other details in graphic here.
Player Lists post 2018 season
- The AFL has determined that the AFLW All-Australian committee will give each player at a Victorian club a points rating between 10 and 50, based on performance, but also taking into account injury, age and other relevant factors.
- Existing clubs will give up between two and four players to a total worth of 100 points. Josh Vanderloo, told Fairfax Media, “Notionally your top rated players are worth 50 points, your low-rated players are worth 10 points.”
- The expansion clubs will subsequently be allowed to sign any non-AFLW players over 18, before the league determines exact concessions for the 2018 draft.
