2023 VFL Women's season

The 2023 VFL Women's season was the seventh season of the VFL Women's (VFLW). The season commenced on 25 March and concluded with the grand final on 30 July.^[1]

2023 VFL Women's season
Teams	12
Premiers	Port Melbourne 1st premiership
Minor premiers	Collingwood 3rd minor premiership
Best and fairest	Jordan Mifsud (Box Hill) Akayla Peterson (Box Hill) Charlotte Simpson (Geelong Cats)
Leading goalkicker	Sarah Cameron Williamstown (18 goals)
← 2022 2024 →

Port Melbourne won the club's first VFLW premiership defeating Collingwood in the grand final, a week after eliminating defending premiers Essendon in the preliminary final.

Clubs

There was one change to the competition, with the Hawthorn Football Club transferring their VFL Women's license to Box Hill during the off-season, replicating the club's men's team reserves arrangement in the Australian Football League and Victorian Football League.^[2]

Due to ongoing construction work at the Whitten Oval, Western Bulldogs played their home matches at Port Melbourne's ETU Stadium.^[3]

Club	Home ground(s)	Coach	Captain(s)
Box Hill	Box Hill City Oval	Cherie O’Neill[4][5]	Nicole Garner[6]
Carlton	Ikon Park	Tom Stafford[7]	Christina Bernardi[8]
Casey	Casey Fields	Peter Mercoulia[9][10]	Ally Kirkwood[11]
Collingwood	Victoria Park AIA Centre	Chloe McMillan[12]	Caitlin Bunker[13]
Darebin	La Trobe University, Bundoora Preston City Oval	Kate Tyndall[14][15]	Steph Simpson[15]
Essendon	NEC Hangar	Travis Cloke[16]	Mia-Rae Clifford Courtney Ugle[17]
Geelong Cats	Deakin University, Waurn Ponds	Elise Coventry[18]	Chloe Leonard[19]
North Melbourne	Arden Street Oval	Steph Binder[17]	Jess Jones[20]
Port Melbourne	ETU Stadium	Sean Buncle[21]	Claire Dyett[22]
Southern Saints	Trevor Barker Beach Oval RSEA Park	Michelle Densley[23]	Tayla Kearns Ali Hynes[24]
Western Bulldogs	ETU Stadium	Rhys Cahir[25]	Mary Sandral[26]
Williamstown	DSV Stadium	Liam Cavanagh[27]	Erin Meade[28][29]

Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Collingwood	14	9	5	0	522	377	138.5	36	Finals series
2	Port Melbourne (P)	14	9	5	0	450	351	128.2	36
3	Williamstown	14	9	5	0	471	368	128.0	36
4	Box Hill	14	8	4	2	444	358	124.0	36
5	Essendon	14	8	5	1	404	387	104.4	34
6	Carlton	14	8	6	0	526	349	150.7	32
7	Southern Saints	14	8	6	0	365	334	109.3	32
8	Geelong Cats	14	7	6	1	402	344	116.9	30
9	North Melbourne	14	7	7	0	410	427	96.0	28
10	Casey	14	6	8	0	505	473	106.8	24
11	Western Bulldogs	14	3	11	0	414	488	84.8	12
12	Darebin	14	0	14	0	188	845	22.2	0

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

Finals series

Match-ups set using the second McIntyre final six system.

	Qualifying final					Semi-finals					Preliminary final					Grand final
	9 July, Victoria Park
	1	Collingwood	7.6 (48)
	2	Port Melbourne	3.4 (22)			15 July, Victoria Park										30 July, ETU Stadium
						Collingwood		3.4 (22)								Collingwood		3.5 (23)
	Elimination finals					Essendon		2.6 (18)			23 July, ETU Stadium					Port Melbourne		5.5 (35)
	9 July, DSV Stadium										Essendon		1.5 (11)
	3	Williamstown	2.6 (18)			16 July, ETU Stadium					Port Melbourne		6.5 (41)
	6	Carlton	3.4 (22)			Port Melbourne		5.7 (37)
	8 July, Box Hill City Oval					Carlton		5.6 (36)
	4	Box Hill	3.3 (21)
	5	Essendon	4.7 (31)

Qualifying and elimination finals

	Qualifying final
Sunday, 9 July (11:00 am)	Collingwood 7.6 (48)	def.	Port Melbourne 3.4 (22)	Victoria Park	Report

	Elimination finals
Saturday, 8 July (11:00 am)	Box Hill 3.3 (21)	def. by	Essendon 4.7 (31)	Box Hill City Oval	Report
Sunday, 9 July (4:30 pm)	Williamstown 2.6 (18)	def. by	Carlton 3.4 (22)	DSV Stadium	Report

Semi finals

	Semi finals
Saturday, 15 July (1:00pm)	Collingwood 3.4 (22)	def.	Essendon 2.6 (18)	Victoria Park	Report
Sunday, 16 July (12:00pm)	Port Melbourne 5.7 (37)	def.	Carlton 5.6 (36)	ETU Stadium	Report

Preliminary final

	Preliminary final
Sunday, 23 July (2:00pm)	Essendon 1.5 (11)	def. by	Port Melbourne 6.5 (41)	ETU Stadium	Report

Grand Final

	2023 VFLW Grand Final
Sunday, 30 July (12:10pm)	Collingwood	def. by	Port Melbourne	ETU Stadium	Report
	1.0 (6) 2.4 (16) 3.4 (22) 3.5 (23)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	2.2 (14) 3.2 (20) 4.2 (26) 5.5 (35)	Lisa Hardeman Medal: Lauren Caruso (Port Melbourne) Television broadcast: Seven Network
Nikolitsis 2, Sargent		Goals	Wilson, Frew, Bromage, Borg, Alomes
Bates, Nikolitsis, Zander, Busch, Hales, Caris, Ricardo		Best	Caruso, McKellar, Whitehead, Harley, Stutt, Williams, Borg, Hartog, Bromage

Awards

• Lambert–Pearce Medal (Best and Fairest): Jordan Mifsud (Box Hill), Akayla Peterson (Box Hill), Charlotte Simpson (Geelong Cats)^{[30][31][32][33]}
• Rohenna Young Medal (Leading Goal kicker): Sarah Cameron (Williamstown) – 18 goals
• Debbie Lee Medal (Rising Star): Charlotte Simpson (Geelong Cats)^[30]
• Coaches MVP: Jessica Bates (Collingwood)
• Coach of the Year: Sean Buncle (Port Melbourne)^[30]
• Lisa Hardeman Medal (Best on ground VFL Women's Grand Final): Lauren Caruso (Port Melbourne)

2023 VFL Women's Team of the Year^[30]

B:	Emily Eaves (Williamstown	Sophie Molan (Essendon)
HB:	Lauren Caruso (Port Melbourne)	Tessa Boyd (Southern Saints)	Ciara Fitzgerald (North Melbourne)
C:	Winnie Laing (Southern Saints)	Charlotte Simpson (Geelong Cats)	Audrey Rhodes (North Melbourne)
HF:	Dominique Carbone (Western Bulldogs)	Nyakoat Dojiok (Collingwood)	Jordan Mifsud (Box Hill)
F:	Maddie Boyd (Box Hill)	Sarah Cameron (Williamstown)
Foll:	Jorja Borg (Western Bulldogs)	Jessica Bates (c) (Collingwood)	Madeleine Di Cosmo (Carlton)
Int:	Shannon Danckert (Casey)	Kaitlyn O'Keefe (Port Melbourne)	Akayla Peterson (Box Hill)
	Ashlee Thorneycroft (Carlton)	Sharnie Whiting (Williamstown)
Coach:	Sean Buncle (Port Melbourne)

Club best and fairest winners

Club	Best & Fairest	Ref
Box Hill	Jordan Mifsud	[34]
Carlton	Maddie Di Cosmo	[35]
	Ashlee Thorneycroft
Casey	Shree Fairchild	[36]
Collingwood	Jessica Bates	[37]
Darebin	Angelica Gogos	[38]
Essendon	Sophie Molan	[39]
Geelong Cats	Charlotte Simpson	[40]
North Melbourne	Audrey Rhodes	[41]
Port Melbourne	Lauren Caruso	[42]
Southern Saints	Winnie Laing	[43]
Western Bulldogs	Dominique Carbone	[44]
	Jorja Borg
Williamstown	Emily Eaves	[45]