The Talent League Girls (also known as the Coates Talent League Girls under

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

and previously as the NAB League Girls and TAC Cup Girls) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and metropolitan

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with each team representing twelve Victorian regions, while a thirteenth team from

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was introduced in 2019. The league is one of the leading competitions for female footballers to be recruited to

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

(AFLW) clubs. An identical competition for male footballers, known as the Talent League Boys, is also contested on an annual basis.

History

The league was inaugurated in 2017, the same year as the first AFL Women's premiership season was held. All NAB League Boys clubs entered teams and shared training grounds. Reaction to the establishment was positive, with

Fiona Richardson Fiona Catherine Alison Richardson (22 November 1966 – 23 August 2017) was an Australian politician. She was a Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 2006 until her death in 20 ...

, Victorian Minister for Women, praising the league for its encouragement of

women's sports The participation of women and girls in sports, physical fitness and exercise, has been recorded to have existed throughout history. However, participation rates and activities vary in accordance with nation, era, geography, and stage of econ ...

. vice-captain Madeline Keryk said the competition helped equalise opportunities for boys and girls in junior football. The first season was a five-round competition. The Calder Cannons won all five of their matches and overcame the Murray Bushrangers on percentage to claim the inaugural premiership. The second season was a nine-round competition culminating in a

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

. The inaugural grand finalists were the Geelong Falcons and the Northern Knights. The Falcons won 32–21, completing an unbeaten season. The competition has since grown in fixture length and incorporates a team from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The 2020 season was abandoned due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The league was known as the TAC Cup Girls in 2017 to 2018, NAB League Girls in 2019 to 2022, and since 2023 it has been known as the Coates Talent League Girls.

Age eligibility

The competition was originally classified as an under-18 competition, though in 2021 the competition was classified as an under-19 competition. The draft age for both the AFL and AFLW Draft is 18. Since 2023 the league has been primarily by under-18 players, with a selection of under-19 players also listed.

Premiers

Best and Fairest Award

External links

Official website

References

{{Aussie Rules in Victoria Australian rules football competitions in Victoria (state) Recurring sporting events established in 2017 2017 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2017 Talent League Girls