2019 AFL Women's Season

The 2019 AFL Women's season was the third season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 2 February to 31 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a two-week finals series featuring the top two clubs from each conference. Australian Football League (AFL) clubs and featured for the first time in 2019.

won the premiership, defeating by 45 points in the 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final; it was Adelaide's second AFL Women's premiership. Adelaide's Erin Phillips won her second AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and teammate Stevie-Lee Thompson won the AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.

Reforms

New teams

Two new teams, and , joined the competition, bringing the total number of teams to ten. The North Melbourne team has a strong Tasmanian focus; some players were based in Tasmania and some home games were held in the state. The introduction of the new teams was the first stage of a two-year expansion that took the league to fourteen teams for the 2020 season.

Conferences

Despite the introduction of new teams, the league retained a seven-round home-and-away season. This was achieved by splitting the competition into two conferences. Each team play four games against their fellow conference members and three "cross-over" matches against teams from the other conference. Conference membership was based on the final ladder positions of the 2018 season.

The finals series was expanded to include preliminary finals for the first time; the two teams who finish the highest in each conference at the end of the home-and-away season qualified for the preliminary finals. The winners of these games played in the AFL Women's Grand Final. The make-up of the conferences, along with the fixture, was released in October 2018.

The conference system proved controversial as the teams in Conference A consistently outplayed the teams on Conference B, resulting in the first, second, fifth and sixth best overall teams making the finals. Due to the conference system, as of 2024, this remains the only season where the North Melbourne team did not make the finals (despite a 5-2 record).

Rule changes

There were 11 rule changes brought in for the 2019 AFLW season (three AFLW specific).

*Boundary throw ins brought in by 10m (AFLW only)
* Last touch rule only applies outside of the 50s (AFLW only)
*Runners allowed on the field during live play (AFLW only)
*5-6-5 formation mandated at centre bounces
*The woman on the mark must stand further back after kick ins after a behind (from 5m to 10m), and the player doesn't need to kick to herself before playing on
*After defenders have a free kick within nine metres of their goal, the woman on the mark stands in line with the top of the goal square
*Players can't set up behind the umpire at centre bounces
*Play on is allowed for 50m penalties
*Players can kick across their body after taking a mark after the siren.
*A player can place her hands on the back of her opponent to protect marking space (see Push in the back)
*A ruck who takes direct possession of the ball from a bounce, throw-up or boundary throw-in will no longer be regarded as having had prior opportunity.

Home-and-away season

The full fixture and make-up of the conferences was released on 26 October 2018.
*All starting times are local.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Ladders

Progression by round

*Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 2.

Conference A

Conference B

Finals series

Preliminary finals

Grand final

Win–loss table

Attendances

By club

By ground

Awards

*The league best and fairest was awarded to Erin Phillips.
*The leading goalkicker was awarded to Stevie-Lee Thompson of , who kicked thirteen goals during the home and away season.
*The Rising Star was awarded to Madison Prespakis.
*The best on ground in the AFL Women's Grand Final was awarded to Erin Phillips.
*The goal of the year was awarded to Ashley Sharp.
*The mark of the year was awarded to Tayla Harris.
* AFLW Players Association awards
**The most valuable player was awarded to Erin Phillips.
**The most courageous player was awarded to Chelsea Randall.
**The best captain was awarded to Brianna Davey.
**The best first year player was awarded to Madison Prespakis.
*The AFLW Coaches Association champion player of the year was awarded to Erin Phillips.
*Erin Phillips was named the captain of the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team. The premiers had five players selected, with nine of the league's 10 clubs represented in the final team by at least one player.
* were the lowest ranked team overall, and thus could be said to have "won" the wooden spoon, though this is a contestable claim given the use of conferences.

Best and fairest

AFLW leading goalkicker

*Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round.

''Source: https://www.afl.com.au/womens/matches/stats''

Coach changes

Club leadership

See also

* 2018 AFL Women's draft

References

External links

Official AFL Women's website

{{AFL Women's

AFL Women's seasons
2019 in Australian rules football