The AFL has introduced the AFLW competitors will develop to 18 groups by the tip of 2023.
The league has dedicated to the expansion by its seventh season, following an AFL Commission assembly on Tuesday. However, the competitors will stay at 14 groups for the 2021-22 season.
Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney are the golf equipment at the moment with out AFLW counterparts. The AFL has invited the 4 groups to submit proposals on becoming a member of the competitors in 2022, and can use that course of to find out whether or not they’re added for the 2022-23 or 2023-24 seasons.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan stated the transfer to 18 groups was solely a matter of time.
“We don’t feel the competition is whole without all 18 clubs,” he stated.
“We know from the clubs that they don’t feel whole now without an AFLW team. AFLW is not just a competition that makes our game better, but a culture that makes our whole industry better.”
It’s the third spherical of expansion on the competitors since its inception in 2017. Originally starting as an eight-team league, North Melbourne and Geelong had been added for the 2019 season, with Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast becoming a member of in 2020.
(Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos through Getty Images)
McLachlan urged Bombers, Hawks, Power and Swans followers to get behind their new AFLW sides.
“Clubs and their supporters want to be part of the AFLW, and we want another two million supporters to get behind their AFLW teams,” he stated.
“We have seen the interest grow as we went from eight teams to 10, and then to 14, and we expect that growth to continue as we move to engage all 18 clubs and their supporters.”
Next yr’s AFLW season may even be introduced ahead to stop a conflict with the AFL’s opening rounds. The 2021-22 competitors will start in December, with the grand last wanting prone to be performed the week earlier than the AFL season commences.
