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: Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.

2017 AFL Women's season
Overview
Date	3 February – 25 March 2017
Teams	8
Premiers	Adelaide 1st premiership
Runners-up	Brisbane 1st runners-up result
Minor premiers	Brisbane 1st minor premiership
Best and fairest	Erin Phillips (Adelaide) 14 votes
Leading goalkicker	Darcy Vescio (Carlton) 14 goals
Attendance
Matches played	29
Total attendance	198,020 (6,828 per match)
Highest	24,568 (round 1, Carlton v Collingwood)
2018 →

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

Players contest the first ball-up at the inaugural AFLW match.

The full fixture was released on Friday 9 December 2016.^[1][2] Notable features of the draw include:

• Carlton and Collingwood featured in the league's first ever match,^[3] 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.^[4]
• Adelaide, Carlton, Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs each had four home games, while all other clubs had three.^[5]
• Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney 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.^[5][6]
• The Western Bulldogs featured in the most free-to-air televised matches (four), Collingwood and Melbourne had three each, Adelaide had two and all other clubs had only one.^[1]
• Many games were played in the late morning and late afternoon to avoid the summer heat, especially in Brisbane and Western Australia.^[7]
• All starting times are local.

Round 1

	Round 1
Friday, 3 February (7:45 pm)	Carlton 7.4 (46)	def.	Collingwood 1.5 (11)	Ikon Park (crowd: 24,568)	Report
Saturday, 4 February (4:35 pm)	Adelaide 7.6 (48)	def.	Greater Western Sydney 1.6 (12)	Thebarton Oval (crowd: 9,289)	Report
Saturday, 4 February (7:35 pm)	Western Bulldogs 6.8 (44)	def.	Fremantle 1.6 (12)	VU Whitten Oval (crowd: 10,100)	Report
Sunday, 5 February (5:05 pm)	Melbourne 1.4 (10)	def. by	Brisbane 4.1 (25)	Casey Fields (crowd: 6,500)	Report
A lockout was declared during the first quarter of the Carlton and Collingwood match, with the Victorian Police requesting the gates to be closed for safety reasons.[8] The crowd of 24,568 set an all-time record for attendance at a stand-alone women's sports event in Australia, exceeded only by the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games for crowds at women's sports.[9]

Round 2

	Round 2
Friday, 10 February (7:35 pm)	Western Bulldogs 2.11 (23)	def. by	Adelaide 7.6 (48)	VU Whitten Oval (crowd: 7,669)	Report
Saturday, 11 February (3:35 pm)	Carlton 7.5 (47)	def.	Greater Western Sydney 5.4 (34)	Ikon Park (crowd: 7,884)	Report
Saturday, 11 February (7:40 pm)	Collingwood 4.1 (25)	def. by	Melbourne 7.2 (44)	Ikon Park (crowd: 6,916)	Report
Sunday, 12 February (4:05 pm)	Fremantle 3.5 (23)	def. by	Brisbane 5.6 (36)	Fremantle Oval (crowd: 10,000)	Report
Due to higher than expected attendances in the first round, the match between Collingwood and Melbourne was moved from Olympic Park Oval to Ikon Park.[10]

Round 3

	Round 3
Saturday, 18 February (12:05 pm)	Greater Western Sydney 7.1 (43)	drew with	Fremantle 6.7 (43)	Blacktown ISP Oval (crowd: 4,000[11])	Report
Saturday, 18 February (3:35 pm)	Brisbane 4.3 (27)	def.	Collingwood 3.5 (23)	South Pine Sports Complex (crowd: 5,500)	Report
Saturday, 18 February (7:35 pm)	Western Bulldogs 4.5 (29)	def. by	Melbourne 6.7 (43)	VU Whitten Oval (crowd: 8,000)	Report
Sunday, 19 February (11:35 am)	Adelaide 2.5 (17)	def.	Carlton 2.2 (14)	Thebarton Oval (crowd: 9,006)	Report
Greater Western Sydney's draw with Fremantle was the first draw in AFL Women's history.

Round 4

	Round 4
Saturday, 25 February (11:35 am)	Melbourne 6.6 (42)	def.	Carlton 5.6 (36)	Casey Fields (crowd: 3,965)	Report
Saturday, 25 February (3:35 pm)	Brisbane 6.7 (43)	def.	Greater Western Sydney 1.3 (9)	South Pine Sports Complex (crowd: 3,500)	Report
Saturday, 25 February (7:10 pm)	Western Bulldogs 3.7 (25)	def. by	Collingwood 5.2 (32)	VU Whitten Oval (crowd: 6,733)	Report
Sunday, 26 February (4:05 pm)	Fremantle 3.5 (23)	def. by	Adelaide 6.10 (46)	Fremantle Oval (crowd: 4,578)	Report

Round 5

	Round 5
Friday, 3 March (5:05 pm)	Greater Western Sydney 3.2 (20)	def.	Melbourne 1.9 (15)	Blacktown ISP Oval (crowd: 2,000)	Report
Saturday, 4 March (11:35 am)	Carlton 8.6 (54)	def.	Western Bulldogs 7.6 (48)	Ikon Park (crowd: 6,833)	Report
Saturday, 4 March (10:35 am)	Fremantle 4.7 (31)	def. by	Collingwood 5.2 (32)	Rushton Park (crowd: 2,800)	Report
Saturday, 4 March (6:40 pm)	Adelaide 4.6 (30)	def. by	Brisbane 5.3 (33)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 12,108)	Report

Round 6

	Round 6
Friday, 10 March (3:05 pm)	Fremantle 6.7 (43)	def.	Carlton 4.3 (27)	Domain Stadium (crowd: 1,200)	Report
Saturday, 11 March (10:05 am)	Brisbane 2.11 (23)	def.	Western Bulldogs 2.4 (16)	South Pine Sports Complex (crowd: 4,200)	Report
Saturday, 11 March (5:40 pm)	Adelaide 5.2 (32)	def. by	Melbourne 5.4 (34)	TIO Stadium (crowd: 5,100)	Report
Sunday, 12 March (11:05 am)	Collingwood 7.13 (55)	def.	Greater Western Sydney 3.1 (19)	Olympic Park Oval (crowd: 2,700)	Report

Round 7

	Round 7
Saturday, 18 March (4:35 pm)	Melbourne 11.4 (70)	def.	Fremantle 2.4 (16)	Casey Fields (crowd: 2,500)	Report
Saturday, 18 March (7:10 pm)	Greater Western Sydney 3.2 (20)	def. by	Western Bulldogs 7.10 (52)	Manuka Oval (crowd: 6,460)	Report
Sunday, 19 March (1:35 pm)	Collingwood 7.4 (46)	def. by	Adelaide 10.10 (70)	Olympic Park Oval (crowd: 2,500)	Report
Sunday, 19 March (3:35 pm)	Carlton 6.1 (37)	drew with	Brisbane 5.7 (37)	Ikon Park (crowd: 5,801)	Report

Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Brisbane	7	6	0	1	224	148	151.4	26	Grand Final
2	Adelaide (P)	7	5	2	0	291	185	157.3	20
3	Melbourne	7	5	2	0	258	183	141.0	20
4	Carlton	7	3	3	1	261	232	112.5	14
5	Collingwood	7	3	4	0	224	262	85.5	12
6	Western Bulldogs	7	2	5	0	237	232	102.2	8
7	Fremantle	7	1	5	1	191	298	64.1	6
8	Greater Western Sydney	7	1	5	1	157	303	51.8	6

Source: AFL.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

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.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Brisbane	4	8	12	16	20	24	26
2	Adelaide	4	8	12	16	16	16	20
3	Melbourne	0	4	8	12	12	16	20
4	Carlton	4	8	8	8	12	12	14
5	Collingwood	0	0	0	4	8	12	12
6	Western Bulldogs	4	4	4	4	4	4	8
7	Fremantle	0	0	2	2	2	6	6
8	Greater Western Sydney	0	0	2	2	6	6	6

Grand final

Main article: 2017 AFL Women's 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.^[12] Brisbane finished as the minor premiers and secured a spot in the grand final at the end of round six; Adelaide's round seven win over Collingwood saw them secure the second spot in the grand final over Melbourne due to a higher percentage.^[13] 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.^[14] 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 Gold Coast versus Brisbane Lions AFL match.^[15]

	2017 AFL Women's Grand Final
Saturday, 25 March (12:55 pm)	Brisbane 4.5 (29)	def. by	Adelaide 4.11 (35)	Metricon Stadium (crowd: 15,610)	Report

Win–loss table

+	Win		Qualified for finals
-	Loss	X	Bye
	Draw		Eliminated

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	GF	Ladder
Adelaide	GWS 36	WB 25	Car 3	Fre 23	BL 3	Mel 2	Col 24	BL 6	1
Brisbane	Mel 15	Fre 13	Col 4	GWS 34	Ade 3	WB 7	Car 0	Ade 6	2
Carlton	Col 35	GWS 13	Ade 3	Mel 6	WB 6	Fre 16	BL 0	X	4
Collingwood	Car 35	Mel 19	BL 4	WB 7	Fre 1	GWS 36	Ade 24	X	5
Fremantle	WB 32	BL 13	GWS 0	Ade 23	Col 1	Car 16	Mel 54	X	7
Greater Western Sydney	Ade 36	Car 13	Fre 0	BL 34	Mel 5	Col 36	WB 32	X	8
Melbourne	BL 15	Col 19	WB 14	Car 6	GWS 5	Ade 2	Fre 54	X	3
Western Bulldogs	Fre 32	Ade 25	Mel 14	Col 7	Car 6	BL 7	GWS 32	X	6

Attendances

By club 2017 AFL Women's attendances Club All games Home games Total Games Avg. Total Games Avg. Adelaide 65,860 8 8,233 35,503 4 8,876 Brisbane 63,219 8 7,902 28,810 4 7,203 Carlton 59,257 7 8,465 45,086 4 11,272 Collingwood 51,717 7 7,388 12,116 3 4,039 Fremantle 35,178 7 5,025 18,578 4 4,645 Greater Western Sydney 35,833 7 5,119 12,460 3 4,153 Melbourne 34,981 7 4,997 12,965 3 4,322 Western Bulldogs 49,995 7 7,142 32,502 4 8,126

By ground 2017 ground attendances Ground Total Games Avg. 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
Brisbane	Inaugural coach			Craig Starcevich[16]	22 June 2016
Carlton	Inaugural coach			Damien Keeping[17]	29 June 2016
Fremantle	Inaugural coach			Michelle Cowan[18]	1 July 2016
Greater Western Sydney	Inaugural coach			Tim Schmidt[19]	23 July 2016
Collingwood	Inaugural coach			Wayne Siekman[20]	26 July 2016
Western Bulldogs	Inaugural coach			Paul Groves[21]	23 August 2016
Adelaide	Inaugural coach			Bec Goddard[22]	24 August 2016
Melbourne	Inaugural coach			Mick Stinear[23]	15 September 2016
Greater Western Sydney	Tim Schmidt	Resigned	21 July 2017	Alan McConnell[24]	21 July 2017

Club leadership

Table of club coaches, captains and vice-captains

Club	Coach	Captain(s)	Vice-captain(s)	Ref.
Adelaide	Bec Goddard	Erin Phillips, Chelsea Randall	Ange Foley, Sally Riley	[25]
Brisbane	Craig Starcevich	Emma Zielke	—	[26]
Carlton	Damien Keeping	Lauren Arnell	Brianna Davey, Madeline Keryk	[27]
Collingwood	Wayne Siekman	Steph Chiocci	Alicia Eva	[28]
Fremantle	Michelle Cowan	Kara Donnellan	Kirby Bentley, Kiara Bowers	[29]
Greater Western Sydney	Tim Schmidt	Amanda Farrugia	Emma Swanson	[30]
Melbourne	Mick Stinear	Daisy Pearce	Melissa Hickey, Elise O'Dea	[31]
Western Bulldogs	Paul Groves	Katie Brennan	Ellie Blackburn	[32]

Honours

Bec Goddard coached Adelaide in 2017, winning the inaugural AFLW premiership.

Erin Phillips won the league's best and fairest award for the season

Darcy Vescio was the AFLW's leading goalkicker for 2017

Ebony Marinoff was named the inaugural AFL Women's Rising Star winner

Awards

• The league best and fairest was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide, who polled fourteen votes.^[33]
• The leading goalkicker was awarded to Darcy Vescio of Carlton, who kicked fourteen goals during the home and away season.^[34]
• The Rising Star was awarded to Ebony Marinoff of Adelaide.^[35]
• The best on ground in the AFLW Grand Final was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide.^[36]
• The goal of the year was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide.^[37]
• The mark of the year was awarded to Darcy Vescio of Carlton.^[38]
• The minor premiership was awarded to Brisbane.^[34]
• The wooden spoon was "awarded" to Greater Western Sydney.^[39]
• AFLW Players Association awards^[40]
  • 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 Melbourne.

Best and fairest

Table of club best and fairest award recipients

Club	Award name	Player	Ref.
Adelaide	Club Champion	Erin Phillips	[41]
Brisbane	—	Emily Bates	[42]
Carlton	—	Brianna Davey	[43]
Collingwood	—	Nicola Stevens	[44]
Fremantle	—	Dana Hooker	[45]
Greater Western Sydney	Gabrielle Trainor Medal	Jessica Dal Pos	[46]
Melbourne	—	Daisy Pearce	[47]
Western Bulldogs	Susan Alberti Award	Ellie Blackburn	[48]
		Emma Kearney

AFLW leading goalkicker

• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round.

	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Darcy Vescio	44	26	17	18	311	314	014	14
2	Sarah Perkins	11	23	03	14	26	17	411	11
3	Kate McCarthy	11	01	23	25	27	18	18	9
	Alyssa Mifsud	00	11	34	26	06	17	29
5	Erin Phillips	33	03	14	15	05	05	38	8
6	Moana Hope	00	11	01	12	13	25	27	7
	Phoebe McWilliams	11	12	24	04	04	26	17
8	Jess Cameron	00	11	12	03	13	14	26	6
	Ellie Blackburn	11	01	01	12	35	05	16

All-Australian team

Main article: 2017 AFL Women's All-Australian team

The final All-Australian team was announced on 28 March. Grand finalists Adelaide and Brisbane had the most representatives with five each, and every team had at least one representative.^[49] Melbourne captain Daisy Pearce was announced as the All-Australian captain and Adelaide co-captain Erin Phillips was announced as the vice-captain.^[50]

2017 AFL Women's All-Australian team

B:	Nicola Stevens (Collingwood)	Courtney Cramey (Adelaide)
HB:	Chelsea Randall (Adelaide)	Brianna Davey (Carlton)	Karen Paxman (Melbourne)
C:	Elise O'Dea (Melbourne)	Daisy Pearce (Melbourne) (captain)	Emma Kearney (Western Bulldogs)
HF:	Erin Phillips (Adelaide) (vice-captain)	Sabrina Frederick-Traub (Brisbane)	Ellie Blackburn (Western Bulldogs)
F:	Sarah Perkins (Adelaide)	Darcy Vescio (Carlton)
Foll:	Emma King (Collingwood)	Kara Donnellan (Fremantle)	Emily Bates (Brisbane)
Int:	Jessica Dal Pos (Greater Western Sydney)	Kate McCarthy (Brisbane)	Ebony Marinoff (Adelaide)
	Tayla Harris (Brisbane)	Melissa Hickey (Melbourne)	Sam Virgo (Brisbane)
Coach:	Bec Goddard (Adelaide)

State of Origin

Main article: Interstate matches in Australian rules football

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.^[51] 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 Melbourne AFLW football operations manager Debbie Lee would coach Victoria, while Adelaide premiership coach Bec Goddard, would coach the Allies.^[52]

Squads

Victoria (AFL Women's) Playing list Coaching staff  1 Brianna Davey  2 Alicia Eva  3 Jaimee Lambert  4 Karen Paxman  5 Emma Kearney  6 Daisy Pearce (c)  8 Sarah Hosking  9 Ellie Blackburn 10 Kaitlyn Ashmore 11 Lauren Spark 12 Jessica Dal Pos 13 Lauren Arnell 14 Lily Mithen 15 Kara Donnellan 16 Jasmine Garner 17 Steph Chiocci 18 Melissa Hickey 19 Sarah D'Arcy 21 Nicola Stevens 23 Moana Hope 28 Sarah Perkins 30 Alison Downie Head coach Debbie Lee Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) Updated: 3 September 2017 Source(s): Players, Coaches

Allies (AFL Women's) Playing list Coaching staff  1 Emily Bates  3 Katie Brennan  4 Emma Swanson  5 Elise O'Dea  7 Tayla Harris  8 Emma Zielke (vc)  9 Kate McCarthy 10 Ebony Marinoff 11 Leah Kaslar 12 Ebony Antonio 13 Jess Sedunary 14 Sabrina Frederick-Traub 15 Renee Tomkins 16 Stevie-Lee Thompson 17 Dana Hooker 20 Hayley Miller 22 Courtney Cramey 23 Kirby Bentley 24 Jess Wuetschner 26 Chelsea Randall (c) 35 Bianca Jakobsson 60 Emma King Head coach Bec Goddard Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) Updated: 3 September 2017 Source(s): Players, Coaches

Result

	AFLW State of Origin
Saturday, 2 September (7:40 pm)	Victoria	def.	Allies	Etihad Stadium (crowd: 9,400[53])	Report
	0.2.2 (14) 0.8.5 (53) 0.11.7 (73) 0.17.11 (113)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	0.1.1 (7) 0.2.2 (14) 0.2.2 (14) 0.2.4 (16)	Umpires: Bryce, Cheever, Rodger Best on ground: Daisy Pearce Television broadcast: Network Seven, Fox Footy
Super goals: Nil Garner 5, Blackburn 3, Ashmore 2, Eva, Lambert, Paxman, Kearney, Pearce, D'Arcy, Hope		Goals	Super goals: Nil Harris, Wuetschner
Pearce, Paxman, Donnellan, Garner, Eva, Kearney, Blackburn		Best	King, Bates, Antonio, Brennan, Marinoff
Lambert (hip)		Injuries	Harris (knee), Zielke (ribs), Randall (thigh), Bentley (knee)
Nil		Reports	Nil

See also

• 2016 AFL Women's draft