2022 AFL Women's season 6 was the sixth season of the
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 ...
(AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior
women's Australian rules football
Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL), is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. ...
competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 7 January to 9 April, comprising a ten-round home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top six clubs. It was the first of two seasons to take place in the 2022 calendar year, with the competition's
seventh season held from August to November.
won the
premiership, defeating by 13 points in the
2022 AFL Women's season 6 Grand Final; it was Adelaide's third AFL Women's premiership. Adelaide also won the
minor premiership
A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues.
Origins
The etymolo ...
by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 9–1 win–loss record. 's
Emily Bates won the
AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and Adelaide's
Ashleigh Woodland won the
AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.
Format
The season was formatted mostly the same as the previous season, with each of the fourteen clubs ranked on a single ladder and the top six teams qualifying for the three-week, single-elimination finals series. The only change was extension of the home-and-away season by an additional round, allowing each team to play 10 matches. The season was originally planned to start in December 2021, but in August 2021 it was decided to delay this to January 2022 in the hope of minimising
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 ...
interruptions.
This was the last season to be contested by 14 teams, with the four remaining AFL clubs (, , and ) joining the AFLW competition in 2023.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic
The 2022 season was played during the third year 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 ...
. At the start of the season, the roll-out of Australia's original two-dose vaccination program was almost complete with more than 90% uptake. Across all states except for
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 ...
, most social and interstate travel restrictions which had been in place through the latter half of 2021 had been lifted;
cases of the virus, particularly the
omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a Variants of SARS-CoV-2, variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has ...
which became dominant in December 2021, were widespread in the community for the first time in the pandemic; and confirmed cases and their close contacts were still required to
test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
and isolate, although for shorter periods than earlier in the pandemic. In contrast, Western Australia opened the season with very few virus cases in its community, and with its state borders closed to the rest of Australia, with a planned full reopening date of 5 February 2022 which was later changed to a restricted reopening, with the full reopening indefinitely delayed.
The main impacts of the pandemic to the AFLW season were:
* The league implemented a Vaccination Policy requiring all players and football department staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19; equivalent requirements were implemented by some state governments.
* and , following a Round 1
Western Derby
The Western Derby () is the name given to the Australian rules football matches between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, who both participate in the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW).
As both teams are ba ...
in Fremantle, travelled to Victoria and were based there until the Western Australian borders had their restricted opening. Late season matches were brought forward into this window to try to minimize the impact of the border restrictions,
while the league received permission for teams to travel into Western Australia for matches after the opening.
* A match Rescheduling Policy was put in place to allow for a match to be rescheduled, redrawn or cancelled if one of its clubs was unable to field at least 21 players – including at least 16 from its primary list with five train-on players – due to absences from the team.
Home-and-away season
All starting times are
local time. Source
Australian Football
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Ladder
Finals series
Qualifying finals
Preliminary finals
Grand final
Awards
League awards
*The league
best and fairest
In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
was awarded to
Emily Bates of the
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...
, who polled 21 votes.
*The
leading goalkicker was awarded to
Ashleigh Woodland of , who kicked 19 goals during the home and away season.
*The
Rising Star was awarded to
Mimi Hill of .
*The best on ground medal in the
AFL Women's Grand Final was won by
Anne Hatchard of .
*The goal of the year was awarded to
Ebony Antonio of .
*The mark of the year was awarded to
Tahlia Randall of .
[
* AFLW Players Association awards:
**The ]most valuable player
In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...
was awarded to Emily Bates of the Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...
.
**The most courageous player was awarded to Kirsty Lamb of the .[
**The best captain was awarded to ]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 ...
of .[
**The best first year player was awarded to Charlie Rowbottom of .][
*The AFLW Coaches Association awards:
** The champion player of the year was awarded to Emily Bates of the ]Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...
.
** The senior coach of the year was awarded to Mick Stinear
Michael Gerard Stinear (born 8 August 1984) is a former Australian rules football player and current coach who serves as the head coach of the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
Early life
Stinear was born on 8 August 1984, and ...
of .
* Emma Kearney was named captain of the All-Australian team
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...
. Nine of the fourteen clubs had at least one representative in the 21-woman team.
*The minor premiership
A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues.
Origins
The etymolo ...
was won by .
*The wooden spoon
A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture.
History
The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...
was "won" by .
Best and fairests
Leading goalkickers
*Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round.
*Numbers underlined indicates the player did not play in that round.
Source:
Coach changes
Club leadership
References
External links
Official AFL Women's website
{{AFL Women's
2022 AFL Women's season 6
AFL Women's seasons
AFL Women's season 6