The AFL Is Considering An Extended Finals Series For Next Year’s Women’s Competition

We’re almost at the halfway point of the inaugural AFL Women’s competition, and so far it’s been nothing short of incredible. The crowd numbers have been awesome, as have the TV ratings. And that’s to say nothing of the quality of the games themselves, which although scrappy and low scoring, have been entertaining as hell.

Kaitlyn Ashmore you beauty! pic.twitter.com/l8mFYi6X5T

— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) February 25, 2017

Now, on the back of a barnstorming first month, the AFL is throwing around plans to add an extra week to next year’s women’s competition in the form of a two week finals series.

This year, the two teams that sit highest on the ladder after seven rounds will battle it out in a grand final. But according to AFL General Manager of Game Development Simon Lethlean, the league is now looking at implementing a playoff structure for 2018.

“We’ll see how things pan out in the next four weeks,” Lethlean told The Herald Sun. “If we think 1 v 2 straight into the grand final is not the right way to go then maybe a 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 to qualify might be a project for next year.”

Lethlean also said that free entry into games would remain a feature of the 2018 season, while confirming that it was unlikely extra teams would be added to the competition until there were enough talented players to support expansion.

Although I’m personally a little bummed by the fact that Richmond won’t have its own AFLW team next year, adding a proper finals series seems like a great way to bring more legitimacy and excitement to the competition. Now we just need to see about getting the players a better pay deal.

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Feature image via Steph Chiocci/Twitter