2017 AFL Women's season

The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs. Eight Australian Football League (AFL) clubs featured in the inaugural season: , , , , , , and the .

Adelaide won the inaugural premiership, defeating Brisbane by six points in the 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final. Brisbane won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 6–0–1 win–loss–draw record. Adelaide's Erin Phillips won the AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and Carlton's Darcy Vescio won the AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.

Home-and-away season

The full fixture was released on Friday 9 December 2016. Notable features of the draw include: and featured in the league's first ever match, the match was initially scheduled to be held at Collingwood's home Olympic Park Oval, but was moved in January 2017 to the higher capacity Ikon Park due to higher than expected interest. , Carlton, and the each had four home games, while all other clubs had three. Adelaide, and Fremantle each hosted matches at grounds outside of their home metropolitan area with trips to Darwin, Canberra and Mandurah respectively. Fremantle played their home game against Carlton at Domain Stadium, the home ground of the men's team, as part of a double-header which also included an AFL pre-season match between the same two clubs. The Western Bulldogs featured in the most free-to-air televised matches (four), Collingwood and had three each, Adelaide had two and all other clubs had only one. Many games were played in the late morning and late afternoon to avoid the summer heat, especially in Brisbane and Western Australia. All starting times are local.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Ladder

Progression by round Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 2. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.

Team1234567  1 4 8 12 16 20 24 262 4 8 12 16 16 16 203 0 4 8 12 12 16 204 4 8 8 8 12 12 145 0 0 0 4 8 12 126 4 4 4 4 4 4 87 0 0 2 2 2 6 6 8 0 0 2 2 6 6 6

Grand final

In the absence of a finals series, the two teams who finished the highest on the ladder at the end of the home and away season played in the AFL Women's Grand Final. finished as the minor premiers and secured a spot in the grand final at the end of round six; 's round seven win over saw them secure the second spot in the grand final over due to a higher percentage. It was confirmed in February by AFL Chief Executive Officer, Gillon McLachlan, that the team finishing highest on the ladder at the end of the season would earn the right to host the grand final in their home state. The match was originally planned to be held at the Gabba, however due to its ground surface being in a dangerous state, the grand final was moved to Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast as a curtain raiser to the versus AFL match.

Win–loss table

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 GF Ladder 1 2 X4 X5 X7 X8 X3 X6

Attendances

By club + 2017 AFL Women's attendances ClubAll gamesHome gamesTotalGames TotalGames 65,860 8 8,233 35,503 4 8,876 63,219 8 7,902 28,810 4 7,203 59,257 7 8,465 45,086 4 11,272 51,717 7 7,388 12,116 3 4,039 35,178 7 5,025 18,578 4 4,645 35,833 7 5,119 12,460 3 4,153 34,981 7 4,997 12,965 3 4,322 49,995 7 7,142 32,502 4 8,126

By ground + 2017 ground attendancesGroundTotalGames Blacktown ISP Oval 6,000 2 3,000 Casey Fields 12,965 3 4,322 Domain Stadium 1,200 1 1,200 Fremantle Oval 14,578 2 7,289 IKON Park 52,002 5 10,400 Manuka Oval 6,460 1 6,460 Metricon Stadium 15,610 1 15,610 Norwood Oval 12,108 1 12,108 Olympic Park Oval 5,200 2 2,600 Rushton Park 2,800 1 2,800 South Pine Sports Complex 13,200 3 4,400 Thebarton Oval 18,295 2 9,148 TIO Stadium 5,100 1 5,100 VU Whitten Oval 32,502 4 8,126

Coach changes Club Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment Inaugural coach 22 June 2016 Inaugural coach 29 June 2016 Inaugural coach 1 July 2016 Inaugural coach 23 July 2016 Inaugural coach 26 July 2016 Inaugural coach 23 August 2016 Inaugural coach 24 August 2016 Inaugural coach 15 September 2016 Resigned 21 July 2017 21 July 2017

Club leadership + Table of club coaches, captains and vice-captainsClubCoachCaptain(s)Vice-captain(s) Bec Goddard Erin Phillips, Chelsea Randall Ange Foley, Sally Riley Craig Starcevich Emma Zielke Damien Keeping Lauren Arnell Brianna Davey, Madeline Keryk Wayne Siekman Steph Chiocci Alicia Eva Michelle Cowan Kara Donnellan Kirby Bentley, Kiara Bowers Tim Schmidt Amanda Farrugia Emma Swanson Mick Stinear Daisy Pearce Melissa Hickey, Elise O'Dea Paul Groves Katie Brennan Ellie Blackburn

Honours

Awards The league best and fairest was awarded to Erin Phillips of , who polled fourteen votes. The leading goalkicker was awarded to Darcy Vescio of , who kicked fourteen goals during the home and away season. The Rising Star was awarded to Ebony Marinoff of Adelaide. The best on ground in the AFLW Grand Final was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide. The goal of the year was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide. The mark of the year was awarded to Darcy Vescio of Carlton. The minor premiership was awarded to . The wooden spoon was "awarded" to . AFLW Players Association awards The most valuable player was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide. The most courageous player was awarded to Chelsea Randall of Adelaide. The best captain was awarded to Daisy Pearce of .

Best and fairest + Table of club best and fairest award recipientsClubAward namePlayer Club Champion Gabrielle Trainor Medal Susan Alberti Award

AFLW leading goalkicker Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round. Player1234567Total1Darcy Vescio44261718311314014142Sarah Perkins112303142617411113Kate McCarthy110123252718189Alyssa Mifsud001134260617295Erin Phillips3303141505053886Moana Hope001101121325277Phoebe McWilliams111224040426178Jess Cameron001112031314266Ellie Blackburn11010112350516

All-Australian team

The final All-Australian team was announced on 28 March. Grand finalists and had the most representatives with five each, and every team had at least one representative. captain Daisy Pearce was announced as the All-Australian captain and Adelaide co-captain Erin Phillips was announced as the vice-captain.

State of Origin

In mid-July the AFL announced a State of Origin representative match would be held for AFL Women's players during the AFL season pre-finals bye. A team of players born in Victoria would play a single exhibition match against a team of players from the rest of Australia at Etihad Stadium on the evening of Saturday 2 September. Initial squads for the match were announced on 25 July including that AFLW football operations manager Debbie Lee would coach Victoria, while premiership coach Bec Goddard, would coach the Allies.

Squads

Result

See also 2016 AFL Women's draft

References

External links

Official AFL Women's website