Ashleigh Woodland v Brisbane, R1, FUS; Ashleigh Woodland v North Melbourne, R2, NO

MAKING HISTORY IN NEW SEASON

Welcome to the 2022 NAB AFLW Season 7 Competition.

I’ve wanted to say this for so long: the league is finally whole.

With four expansion clubs – the Sydney Swans, Hawthorn, Essendon and Port Adelaide – our AFLW competition is complete with 18 sides.

Thank you to our partners, led by our principal partner NAB, for your continued belief and support in the AFLW and women’s football.

We’ve moved Season 7 to the best time of the year; the next four months will feature the best football, at the best venues, in the best conditions.

We’ll continue to smash milestones, set records and inspire generations on the field.

Off the field, the AFLW will continue to lead culturally as a space where everyone is welcome and included.

I’m proud that we’re now the biggest employer of women athletes nationally, with 540 players.

It’s been just over four months since the Adelaide Crows claimed the Season 6 premiership cup, and so much has happened since.

We’ve welcomed four new teams, 120 new players, four new coaches, our busiest sign and trade period, a record pay deal with a 94 per cent pay increase, and our first 18-team draft.

I can’t wait for our first women’s Dreamtime match during Indigenous Round, Pride Round and a festival of footy during the men’s Grand Final weekend all before the AFLW finals series.

Who will be crowned champions on the last weekend of November? I’ve got my eye on the purple wave of Fremantle, or will Daisy Pearce take Melbourne one step further than last season?

Powerhouses the Adelaide Crows and the Brisbane Lions will be hard to beat, but I won’t rule out our expansion sides making finals and shaking things up.

The future of female football is here. And there is so much to celebrate.

I can’t wait to see everyone at the footy.

NICOLE LIVINGSTONE OAM

AFL GENERAL MANAGER OF WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

NEW ERA FOR WOMEN

This year marks NAB’s 20th year of partnership with the AFL, and what a brilliant time to be in the game.

Right now, it feels like women’s sport is set to enter a ‘new era’ of recognition, visibility and, of course, celebration on a global scale.

NAB is incredibly proud to support the growth of the game at all levels; from NAB AFL Auskick to the big time and, of course, through our partnership with the AFLW since its inaugural season in 2017.

We are excited about the future of women’s sport – this season, let’s remember that momentum isn’t a given – cheer loudly so we can keep lifting women up and smashing those glass goalposts!

I wish all players, coaches and clubs all the best for the season ahead.

RACHEL SLADE

NAB GROUP EXECUTIVE, PERSONAL BANKING

AFLW Record Season Guide Editor

Michael Lovett

Production Editor

Gary Hancock

AFLW Analyst

Nic Negrepontis

Writers

Ashley Browne, Hugh Fitzpatrick, Lachlan Geleit, Mae James, Seb Mottram, Nic Negrepontis, Dem Panopoulos, Laurence Rosen, Andrew Slevison, Alez Zaia

Production Manager

Amahl Weereratne

Art Director

Rohan Voigt

Photography

Michael Willson, Dylan Burns (03) 9643 1999 aflphotos.com.au

Photos Manager

Celia Drummond

CEO – BallPark, Rainmaker & Publishing

Richard Simkiss

Publications Commercial Manager, SEN

Aiden Clarke

Address correspondence to

The Editor, AFLW Record Season Guide, Level 5, 111 Coventry St, Southbank, VIC 3006. (03) 8825 6600 Michael.Lovett@sen.com.au

Statistician

Lachlan Essing Statistical updates and errors and general inquiries should be sent to Lachlan.Essing@afl.com.au

AFL Record, Vol. 111,

NAB AFLW Season Guide Season 7

Copyright. ACN No. 004 155 211. ISBN: 978-0-6484651-8-8 Print Post approved PP3230258/00109

CROWING: With stars such as Marijana Rajcic (left) and Chelsea Randall, Adelaide will be the team to beat again.

ALL ABOARD

AFLW Season 7 will finally see all 18 clubs represented, but expect the established teams to be dominant.

NIC NEGREPONTIS

Here we go again! After one of the shortest off-seasons in football history, AFLW Season 7 revs up again in 2022.

Only a few months after Adelaide was crowned premier for a third time in six years, Season 7 launches with a new August start time.

Sydney, Port Adelaide, Essendon and Hawthorn join the AFLW, completing the set and giving the League an 18-team competition.

Despite this, the length of the season remains 10 weeks, meaning quite a few teams will not cross paths.

The four new teams have been busy signing players and constructing their lists, hoping to quickly find their feet and have an impact.

It will be a difficult season to assess with many injured players unable to return for the August start and the expansion sides having only a few months to build their teams from scratch.

For example, Collingwood will be without star pair Brianna Davey and Brittany Bonnici, who suffered torn ACLs earlier in the year.

Expect the top teams from last season to remain the standard bearers.

Adelaide might have lost players, including champion Erin Phillips to the Power, but will remain a force.

Melbourne will be a contender again and Daisy Pearce will go around once more in pursuit of a premiership, while Brisbane, North Melbourne and Fremantle will also be around the finals mark.

It’s hard to imagine the status quo changing greatly in just two months.

The trade and free agency period was a hurricane of movement, headlined by Maddy Prespakis, Isabel Huntington, Gemma Houghton, Jess Duffin, Kaitlyn Ashmore and Phillips changing clubs.

Carlton, in particular, was hit hard, losing seven players, which could see the Blues struggling this season.

NEW HOME:

Former Roo Kaitlyn Ashmore is one of Hawthorn’s big signings.

WOUNDED PIE:

Brittany Bonnici will miss Season 7.

DAISY PEARCE

The big question will be the expansion teams and how competitive they can be early on?

North Melbourne hit the ground running when it entered in 2019, but the majority of new teams have struggled near the bottom of the ladder and remained there.

The most recent ladder shows the bottom five sides were all expansion teams, with only the Roos in the top six.

Essendon has put together a list with some top-end talent, as has Port Adelaide, while Hawthorn and Sydney will probably need a few years to build out their lists.

How many games will they win and can they compete?

It will be interesting to see what the inclusion of the new teams means for St Kilda, West Coast and Geelong, who have struggled to get off the bottom of the ladder but are no longer the new kids on the block.

Pearce will go around once more in pursuit of a premiership

PERFECT BACKDROP: The Sydney Swans pose in front of the historic SCG Members Stand.

The season will run concurrently with the men’s and run through November, taking it out of the summer heat for the first time.

It’s likely we will see a season with minimal change at the top end, while the new teams attempt to find their feet and the existing sides jostle for position.

For four supporter bases, they will finally get the opportunity to support their clubs at AFLW level.

After only seven seasons, the League has expanded from eight teams to 18.

While this may lead to some short-term pain, the long-term future of the League and a new era for AFLW begins here.