Plans revealed for 2025 AFLW fixture

AFL football boss Laura Kane says the league is exploring an earlier start to next year’s AFLW season with the unpopular condensed fixture set to be scrapped.

Kane defended the introduction of midweek fixtures during the 2024 home-and-away season and suggested they were here to remain but would not come attached to shorter breaks for clubs.

Most teams played four games within a 16-day window during the home-and-away campaign, as the league squeezed an extra 11th game into the fixture without extending the length of the season.

The 2025 season will expand again to 12 games in an agreement struck in last year’s CBA, likely forcing an earlier start date than the AFL pre-finals bye weekend.

“We know we’ll be playing 12 games – that’s built into the CBA … more AFLW is terrific,” Kane told Seven’s Talking W program on Monday night.

“The other question is when do we start, and I think there are a couple of important decisions that we have to make – one being when do you play the AFLW grand final?

“A focus for us over the last year has been building rituals into the fixture and making sure that our fans know when their team will be playing.

“So yes, (an earlier start) is something that we’re definitely considering.”

Kane was adamant AFLW games could meet the attendance and broadcast metrics needed to unlock a 14-game season in 2026 despite crowds falling well below the 6000 average required this season.

A clash between Brisbane and Adelaide at Springfield last month and the Western Derby on October 19 have been the only games to surpass a crowd of 6000 in 2024, and the AFLPA successfully lobbied the AFL to exclude 15 home-and-away games in “inopportune timeslots” from the metrics.

“Absolutely it is (achievable). And they’re numbers that we’ve hit before, they’re numbers from the 2019 season, albeit with a different competition structure,” Kane said.

“We can do it, we know we can. We know there are fans there, and our job is to get people to come and attend, get people to turn the tele on and watch, and that’s what all of our efforts are centred around.”

Kane insisted there had been positive feedback from players and fans on Sunday night and midweek games trialled during the condensed period and suggested many of the slots used would return.

“We absolutely hear the feedback. A lot of it I share … we’re definitely across how people feel,” she said.

“One thing we did learn, which wouldn’t have happened for that start of fixture, was that Sunday nights and midweek football, people really like that, the fans like it.

“You might see a midweek game next year, but when do you play your next one? I think we’ve heard the feedback on that one pretty clearly.”