The 2016 VFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victori ...

(VFLW). The season commenced on 3 April and concluded with the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final 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. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

on 18 September 2016. The competition was contested by ten clubs, most of whom were independent clubs that had been transferred from the now-defunct

Victorian Women's Football League The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia across seven divisions with a total of over ...

(VWFL). Going undefeated through the season, won the inaugural Grand Final played at Piranha Park by 12 points against

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

, before a crowd of approximately 4,000 people. The win was Darebin's fourth successive premiership after winning the final three seasons of the former VWFL competition. Many of the players who played in the Grand Final were subsequently drafted by clubs ahead of the

2017 AFL Women's season The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-roun ...

Clubs

Darebin Falcons The Darebin Women's Sports Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is a sports club based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne that is primarily notable for its women's Australian rules football, Australian rules football team which competes in the highest- ...

Diamond Creek Diamond Creek is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Diamond Creek recorded a population of 12,503 at the 20 ...

, Eastern Devils, Geelong Magpies, Knox *

, Seaford, St Kilda Sharks, Western Spurs, Cranbourne

Ladder

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Awards

* Lambert–Pearce Medal (Best and Fairest):

Daisy Pearce Daisy Pearce (born 27 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club#AFL Women's team, Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and is the current AFLW senior coach of the West Coast Eagle ...

(Darebin) * Rohenna Young Medal (Leading Goalkicker):

Moana Hope Moana Hope (born 14 February 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the AFL Women's competition from 2017 to 2019, including 13 matches over two seasons at and a further seven matches over one season at . Each ...

(St Kilda Sharks) – 104 goals * Debbie Lee Medal (Rising Star): Sarah Hosking (Seaford) * Lisa Hardeman Medal (Best on Ground in Grand Final): Darcy Vescio (Darebin)

References

{{VFL Women's