2020 AFL Women's season

The 2020 AFL Women's season was the fourth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 7 February to 22 March; it was intended to comprise an eight-round home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top three clubs from each conference, however the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March saw the season curtailed and finally abandoned without a premiership being awarded. Australian Football League (AFL) clubs , , and featured for the first time in 2020.

's Maddy Prespakis won the AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and St Kilda's Caitlin Greiser won the AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

New teams Four new teams, , , and , joined the competition, bringing the total number of teams to fourteen. This followed on from the inclusion of and in the previous season.

Collective bargaining agreement Prior to the season commencing a collective bargaining agreement failed to pass the player's association, with only 70% agreeing, falling short of the required 75% threshold. One of the demands of the dissenters was to have a longer season, so that all the teams could play each other once. The players later voted with a vote of 98% to agree to a revised agreement, which steadily increased the number of matches to be played over three years.

Conference system The conference system utilised in the previous season was retained for this season, though it was expanded to cater for the additional teams. Seven teams were placed in each of the two conferences, with teams playing all their intra-conference rivals once and two cross-over matches against teams from the other conference, resulting in an 8-round home and away season. The placing of the teams was determined by the AFL with competitiveness, list assessments and the previous season's results in mind.

Conference A Team Stadium(s) Capacity Richmond OvalUnley Oval 16,50010,000 Arden Street OvalUTAS StadiumNorth Hobart Oval 5,00021,00018,000 GMHBA Stadium 36,000 Blacktown ISP OvalRobertson OvalGiants Stadium 10,00010,00024,000 Hickey ParkGabba 5,00042,000 Metricon StadiumGreat Barrier Reef ArenaFankhauser Reserve 25,00010,0008,000 Swinburne CentreIkon ParkQueen Elizabeth Oval 6,00021,00010,000

Conference B Team Stadium(s) Capacity Fremantle Oval 17,500 Casey FieldsTIO Traeger Park 12,0007,000 VU Whitten Oval 12,000 Ikon ParkMarvel Stadium 21,00056,000 Victoria ParkMorwell Recreation ReserveMarvel Stadium 15,00012,00056,000 RSEA Park 10,000 Mineral Resources ParkLeederville OvalOptus Stadium 15,00015,00060,000

Impact of 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic The 2020 season was disrupted and then brought to an early end by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, prior to Round 6. The pandemic had the following effects on the season: All matches played from 14 March onwards were played to empty stadiums. The final two rounds of the home-and-away season were scratched and the finals brought forward by two weeks, being played based on ladder positions at the time. The finals series was expanded from six teams to eight. Under the original schedule, the top team in each conference was to advance directly to the preliminary finals while the second and third placed teams played off in semi-finals; but under the modified system, the fourth placed teams also qualified, and faced the first placed teams in semi-finals. Partway through the finals series, it was announced that no premiership will be awarded after the Victorian government announced a shutdown of all non-essential operations on 22 March 2020.

Home-and-away season The originally scheduled eight-round fixture and make-up of the conferences was released on 29 October 2019. All starting times are Australian Eastern Time. home games originally scheduled at the Swinburne Centre, the club's home ground, were later moved to Ikon Park out of concerns for crowd capacity.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Ladders

Progression by round Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 3. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place in the conference for that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place in the conference for that round.

+ Conference ATeam123456781 x x2 x x3 x x4 x x5 x x6 x x7 x x

+ Conference BTeam123456781 x x2 x x3 x x4 x x5 x x6 x x7 x x

Finals series

Semi finals

Win–loss table

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 SF PF GF Ladder GCSRichXXXA6 Brisbane Lions Rich NMXXA3 WCE FremNMXB2 StK GeelXXB4 MelbCarlMelbXB1 GWSCollXXXA5 Gold CoastAdelMelbXXA4 GeelWBXXA2 FremGCSFremXB3 WBBLCarlXA1 BLAdelXXXA7 CollWCEXXXB5 West CoastCarlStKXXXB7 NMGWSXXXB6

Awards

League awards The league best and fairest was awarded to Maddy Prespakis of , who polled 15 out of 18 votes. The leading goalkicker was awarded to Caitlin Greiser of , who kicked ten goals during the home and away season. The Rising Star was awarded to Isabel Huntington of the . There was no Grand Final best on ground medal awarded, as the match was not played on account of the season's early termination due to the coronavirus pandemic. The goal of the year was awarded to Kate Hore of . The mark of the year was awarded to Rebecca Privitelli of . AFLW Players Association awards The most valuable player was awarded to Jasmine Garner (). The most courageous player was awarded to Kiara Bowers (). The best captain was awarded to Daisy Pearce (). The best first year player was awarded to Georgia Patrikios (). The AFLW Coaches Association champion player of the year was awarded to Jasmine Garner (). Karen Paxman was named captain of the All-Australian team. Twelve of the fourteen clubs had at least one representative in the 21-woman team. were the lowest ranked team overall, and thus could be said to have "won" the wooden spoon, though this is a contestable claim given the use of conferences.

Best and fairests Club Award name PlayerRef. Club Champion Best and fairest Best and fairest Best and fairest Fairest and best Best and fairest Best and fairest Gabrielle Trainor Medal Best and fairest Best and fairest Best and fairest Best and fairest Susan Alberti Award Best and fairest

AFLW leading goalkicker Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round. The total is updated following the conclusion of the round. RankPlayerTeam12345678Total1Caitlin GreiserSt Kilda0022241527310xx102Sabreena DuffyFremantle441505054909xx9Kalinda HowarthGold Coast000030210242xx4Kaitlyn AshmoreNorth Melbourne110134044808xx8Jesse WardlawBrisbane113415271808xxJasmine GarnerNorth Melbourne002213032538xx7Tayla HarrisCarlton111213251617xx7Cora StauntonGWS000011014527xx9Rebecca PrivitelliGWS000033142606xx6Ashley SharpFremantle000011012336xxDaisy BatemanNorth Melbourne110123250516xx Source

Coach changes Club Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment Inaugural coach 13 December 2018 Inaugural coach 5 March 2019 Inaugural coach 17 April 2019 Inaugural coach 19 June 2019 End of contract 15 May 2020 6 November 2020 End of contract 4 June 2020 4 June 2020 Resigned 25 September 2020 12 January 2021

Club leadership Club Coach Captain(s) Vice-captain(s) Leadership group Ref Matthew Clarke Erin Phillips, Chelsea Randall Courtney Cramey, Ange Foley Sarah Allan, Jess Foley, Marijana Rajcic Craig Starcevich Emma Zielke Sharni Webb Emily Bates, Breanna Koenen, Kate Lutkins Daniel Harford Kerryn Harrington, Katie Loynes Alison Downie, Sarah Hosking, Nicola Stevens Stephen Symonds Steph Chiocci Ash Brazill, Brianna Davey Trent Cooper Kara Antonio Ebony Antonio, Kiara Bowers, Hayley Miller, Gabby O'Sullivan Paul Hood Melissa Hickey Meg McDonald Renee Garing, Jordan Ivey, Aasta O'Connor David Lake Leah Kaslar, Sam Virgo Tiarna Ernst, Sally Riley, Jamie Stanton Alan McConnell Alicia Eva Jessica Dal Pos, Pepa Randall, Cora Staunton, Britt Tully Mick Stinear Daisy Pearce Karen Paxman Scott Gowans Emma Kearney Jasmine Garner Emma King, Brittany Gibson Tom Hunter Katie Brennan Christina Bernardi Phoebe Monahan, Lauren Tesoriero Peta Searle Cat Phillips, Kate Shierlaw, Rhiannon Watt Luke Dwyer Emma Swanson Dana Hooker Maddy Collier, Courtney Guard, Alicia Janz Nathan Burke Ellie Blackburn Brooke Lochland Isabel Huntington, Kirsty Lamb, Hannah Scott, Lauren Spark

See also 2019 AFL Women's draft

References

External links Official AFL Women's website