WAFL Women's
Current season, competition or edition: 2025 WAFL Women's season | |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2018 |
| First season | 2019 |
| Owner(s) | WAFC, WAWFL (until 2021) |
| No. of teams | 9 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most recent champion(s) | Claremont (2nd premiership) |
| Most titles | Peel Thunder, East Fremantle, Claremont (2 premierships) |
| TV partner(s) | Seven Network (Grand Final only) |
| Sponsor(s) | Optus |
| Official website | wafl.com.au |
WAFL Women's (WAFLW) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFLW is the premier women's football competition in Western Australia and is contested by eight teams, all of whom are owned and operated by clubs in the men's West Australian Football League (WAFL).
The league was established in 2018 by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) and West Australian Women's Football League (WAWFL), the latter having been the governing body and league for women's football in the state from 1987 to 2018.[1] The competition has been singularly overseen by the WAFC after the WAWFL was dissolved in 2021.
The league runs from March to August, usually running partially concurrently with the AFL Women's (AFLW). It is the second primary women's football competition for West Australian footballers underneath the semi-professional national competition, and one of the three elite leagues in women's Australian rules football (the AFLW, SANFLW and WAFLW).
Clubs
[edit]Five of the ten WAFL clubs fielded teams in the inaugural 2019 WAFLW season: Claremont, East Fremantle, Peel Thunder, Subiaco and Swan Districts.
South Fremantle joined the league the following year,[2] with West Perth joining the league in 2022.[3] East Perth joined the league in 2023.[4] Perth became the final WAFL club to enter the league in 2025.[5]
Neither of the state's two AFL teams (Fremantle and West Coast) field teams in the league: Fremantle was an AFLW foundation club in 2017, while West Coast entered the AFLW in 2019 after playing scratch matches in 2017–2018.
| Club | Nickname | Home venue | Est. | First WAFLW season |
WAFLW seasons |
WAFLW premierships |
Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claremont | Tigers | Claremont Oval | 1906 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2024 |
| East Fremantle | Sharks | East Fremantle Oval | 1898 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2023 |
| East Perth | Royals | Leederville Oval | 1902 | 2023 | 2 | — | — |
| Peel | Thunder | Rushton Park | 1996 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2021 |
| Perth | Demons | Lathlain Park | 1899 | 2025 | 0 | — | — |
| South Fremantle | Bulldogs | Fremantle Oval | 1900 | 2020 | 5 | — | — |
| Subiaco | Lions | Leederville Oval | 1896 | 2019 | 6 | — | — |
| Swan Districts | Swans | Bassendean Oval | 1932 | 2019 | 6 | — | — |
| West Perth | Falcons | Arena Joondalup | 1891 | 2022 | 3 | — | — |
Honours
[edit]Premiers
[edit]- 2019: East Fremantle
- 2020: Peel Thunder
- 2021: Peel Thunder
- 2022: Claremont
- 2023: East Fremantle
- 2024: Claremont
Dhara Kerr Award
[edit]- 2019: Hayley Miller & Danika Pisconeri
- 2020: Danika Pisconeri
- 2021: Ella Smith
- 2022: Sharon Wong
- 2023: Jayme Harken
- 2024: Jayme Harken
References
[edit]- ^ "About us". West Australian Women's Football League.
- ^ "South Fremantle to enter 2020 Optus WAFLW competition". West Australian Football Commission. 29 June 2020.
- ^ Eliza Reilly (23 January 2022). "West Perth league debut, rivalries and finals headline WAFLW fixture release". The West Australian.
- ^ A royal reception for East Perth women's team in 2023
- ^ "Perth to join WAFLW in 2025". wafootball.com. 9 August 2024.