The NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships are the annual national

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

championships for women players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the professional

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

competition (AFLW). Originally known as the ''AFL Youth Girls National Championship'', the competition has teams of players representing their states and territories in a round robin tournament. The tournament is currently sponsored by the

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...

. The winner of the 2019 tournament was Vic Metro.

History

A 2008 series between the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and Victoria teams was the predecessor to a national state-based competition for young female footballers. The inaugural competition was conducted in September 2010, in

Craigieburn, Victoria Craigieburn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Craigieburn recorded a population of 65,178 at the 2021 census. Craigieburn i ...

. Six teams competed:

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, Queensland, a combined

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

side (NSW/ACT), and two Victorian squads. These were divided into two pools—first: an AFL Victoria Development squad combined with an East section, which consisted of NSW/ACT and Queensland players; and West, made up of players from South Australia, Western Australia, and Victoria. Teams played three regular games against the sides from the opposite pool before a finals series. Several team changes occurred in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, the Victorian team was split into Victoria Metro and Victoria Country. A combined

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

–

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

team known as the Thunder Devils and an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

side called the Woomeras entered the tournament in 2014. In 2021 the Woomeras were joined by the ''Medleys'', a multicultural under-17 representative program.

, a national women's league which was inaugurated in 2017, allowed the championships to become a formalised pathway competition to the national league. Consequently the name of the competition was changed to AFL Women's Under 18 Championships, having previously been known as the AFL Under 18 Youth Girls Championships. Changes were also made to tournament structure. The tournament was played over two rounds; in the first round, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory played in a separate division. The best players from the states combined to form an Allies team, which competed in the second round against the other states (the Woomeras did not compete). In 2018, a similar Eastern Allies team was established (made up of NSW/ACT and Tasmania players), bringing the total number of teams to 10. There was no championships staged in 2020 due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, which caused the 2021 tournament to have an increased age eligibility by one year (under-19).

Tournaments

Source
List of Winners (pp. 4)
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Division 1 Placings

Division 2 Placings

Northern Academy Series (2023-present)

References

{{Interstate matches in Australian rules football Australian rules interstate football Women's Australian rules football competitions in Australia 2010 establishments in Australia Youth sport in Australia