2021 AFL Women's season explained

Year:2021
Date:28 January—17 April 2021
Teams:14
Premcount:1
Rucount:1
Mpcount:1
Bestandfairest:Kiara Bowers
Brianna Davey
Votes:15
Leadinggoalkicker:Darcy Vescio
Goals:16
Matches:68
Attendance:155,908
Highattendha:9,552 (round 6, v)
Highattendfinals:22,934 (grand final, v)

The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, comprising a nine-round home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top six clubs.

won the premiership, defeating by 18 points in the 2021 AFL Women's Grand Final. Adelaide won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 7–2 win–loss record. 's Kiara Bowers and 's Brianna Davey tied for the AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest players, and 's Darcy Vescio won their second AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.

Format

The previous two AFLW seasons were formatted with the assistance of conferences, which split the league's clubs into two ranking tables. The AFL elected to remove the conferences for the 2021 season and revert to a single ladder. Under the terms of the existing contractual bargaining agreement between the players and the AFL, teams will play nine regular season matches, before a three-week finals series for the top six teams occurs.[1] Owing to the fact clubs will not get the opportunity to play all of their opponents once, the AFL placed the teams together in a single 2020 ladder and then broke them up into brackets to attempt a fair fixture for the 2021 season.[2]

The season was played during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the season began, Australia had largely settled into a paradigm of most states maintaining zero COVID-19 cases outside of their international travel quarantine systems; this allowed football games to be played in front of crowds, usually with reduced capacity, and unhindered interstate travel was permitted without quarantine. However, the different state governments often responded quickly to small numbers or even single virus cases being discovered in the community; this meant border restrictions or quarantine periods were at times re-introduced at short notice, impacting interstate travel for games; and, in some cases, that city- or state-wide lockdowns could be imposed within the impacted states,[3] precluding football activities altogether. The season's original nine-round fixture was discarded due to such restrictions after only one week, in favour of a floating fixture released around any restrictions in place at the time.

Home-and-away season

All starting times are local time.

Round 9

Ladder

Progression by round

width=20 abbr="Position" width=320px Teamwidth=30 abbr="Round 1" 1width=30 abbr="Round 2" 2width=30 abbr="Round 3" 3width=30 abbr="Round 4" 4width=30 abbr="Round 5" 5width=30 abbr="Round 6" 6width=30 abbr="Round 7" 7width=30 abbr="Round 8" 8width=30 abbr="Round 9" 9
1
2Brisbane Lions
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Finals series

Grand final

See main article: 2021 AFL Women's Grand Final.

Win–loss table

Team 1 234 5 6789QFPFGF Ranking
X2
Brisbane LionsX 1
XXX7
X3
XX5
XXX13
Gold CoastXXX14
XXX9
X4
XX6
XXX10
XXX11
XXX12
XXX8

Awards

League awards

Best and fairests

ClubAward namePlayerRef.
Club ChampionEbony Marinoff[13]
Brisbane LionsBest and fairestAlly Anderson
Best and fairestDarcy Vescio
Best and fairestBrianna Davey
Fairest and bestKiara Bowers
Best and fairestAmy McDonald
Club ChampionLauren Ahrens
Gabrielle Trainor MedalAlyce Parker
Best and fairestTyla Hanks & Karen Paxman
Best and fairestJasmine Garner
Best and fairestMonique Conti
Best and fairestGeorgia Patrikios
Best and fairestEllie Blackburn
Club ChampionIsabella Lewis

Leading goalkickers

width=20 abbr="#"Rankwidth=110 abbr="Player" Playerwidth=110 abbr="Team" Teamwidth=20 abbr="Round 1" 1width=20 abbr="Round 2" 2width=20 abbr="Round 3" 3width=20 abbr="Round 4" 4width=20 abbr="Round 5" 5width=20 abbr="Round 6" 6width=20 abbr="Round 7" 7width=20 abbr="Round 8" 8width=20 abbr="Round 9" 9width=20 abbr="Total"Total
1Darcy VescioCarlton1101013426281951421616
2Gemma HoughtonFremantle331426060651111211311414
Chloe MolloyCollingwood2213142639211011213114
Katie BrennanRichmond00000022351639211314
5Dakota DavidsonBrisbane Lions114527180821001011121313
6Erin PhillipsAdelaide221314481921101111201212
Isabel HuntingtonWestern Bulldogs221314263909211011112
8Kate HoreMelbourne2224150505163921101111
9Courtney WakefieldRichmond110112352718190911010
Cora StauntonGreater Western Sydney0000004404043718210
Source:[14]

Coach changes

ClubOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment
Resigned[15] 11 April 2021[16] 2 June 2021
Resigned[17] 10 May 2021[18] 29 June 2021
Resigned[19] 24 June 2021[20] 2 August 2021
End of contract7 September 2021[21] 7 September 2021

Club leadership

ClubCoachCaptain(s)Vice-captain(s)Leadership groupRef
Matthew ClarkeChelsea RandallSarah Allan, Ange Foley, Eloise Jones[22]
Brisbane LionsCraig StarcevichEmma ZielkeBreanna KoenenEmily Bates, Shannon Campbell, Kate Lutkins[23]
Daniel HarfordKerryn Harrington, Katie LoynesAlison Downie, Nicola Stevens, Darcy Vescio[24]
Stephen SymondsSteph Chiocci, Brianna DaveySharni Norder[25]
Trent CooperKara AntonioEbony Antonio, Kiara Bowers, Hayley Miller, Gabby O'Sullivan[26]
Paul HoodMeg McDonaldJordan IveyRenee Garing, Madeline Keryk, Nina Morrison, Aasta O'Connor[27]
David LakeHannah Dunn, Sam VirgoSarah Perkins, Jade Pregelj, Jamie Stanton[28]
Alan McConnellAlicia EvaJessica Dal Pos, Pepa Randall, Cora Staunton, Britt Tully[29]
Mick StinearDaisy PearceKaren PaxmanLibby Birch, Maddison Gay, Tyla Hanks, Kate Hore, Sarah Lampard, Lily Mithen[30]
Darren CrockerEmma KearneyJasmine Garner, Emma King, Ashleigh Riddell[31]
Ryan FergusonKatie BrennanSarah HoskingChristina Bernardi, Harriet Cordner, Sabrina Frederick, Phoebe Monahan, Alana Woodward[32]
Peta SearleCat Phillips, Hannah Priest, Kate Shierlaw, Rhiannon WattTilly , Kate McCarthy[33]
Daniel PrattEmma SwansonDana HookerCourtney Guard, Alicia Janz, Parris Laurie[34]
Nathan BurkeEllie BlackburnBrooke LochlandAshleigh Guest, Bailey Hunt, Isabel Huntington, Kirsty Lamb, Bonnie Toogood[35]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: AFLW scraps controversial conference system, introduces ticketed matches for 2021 season. ABC News. 10 December 2020.
  2. Web site: AFLW 2021 season: Conferences out, $10 tickets, start date revealed. womens.afl. 10 December 2020.
  3. Web site: Australia state border closures: Closing due to a single case feels like 'security theatre'. 8 February 2021. 9 February 2021. Tim Richards. Traveller.com.au.
  4. Web site: History makers: Magpies co-captain, Dockers superstar share AFLW B&F. Telstra. AFL Women's. 20 April 2021.
  5. Web site: Blues gun wraps up goalkicking title in Blacktown nail-biter. 2021-03-29. AFLW. en.
  6. Web site: This rise is official: 157cm Demon Tyla Hanks is the NAB AFLW Rising Star. Sarah. Black. Telstra. AFL Women's. 20 April 2021.
  7. Web site: AFLW grand final: Brisbane Lions defeat Adelaide Crows for maiden flag. Sporting News. Tom. Naghten. 17 April 2021.
  8. Web site: Grand Final livewires sweep Goal of the Year, Mark of the Year awards. Sarah. Black. Telstra. AFL Women's. 20 April 2021.
  9. Web site: MVP Awards: Pie pips Docker for top gong, best captain revealed. womens.afl. 14 April 2021. Sarah. Black.
  10. Web site: Kiara Bowers crowned coaches’ 2021 AFLW champion player in thrilling finish. Fox Sports. 31 March 2021. Ben. Waterworth.
  11. Web site: Coaches pick Starcevich as their No.1 after Lions' GF run. womens.afl. 15 April 2021.
  12. Web site: Two AFLW greats reach footy immortality as All-Australian squad revealed. David. Zita. Fox Sports. 20 April 2021.
  13. Web site: Best and fairest club wrap 2021. 9 April 2021. Black. Sarah. womens.afl.
  14. Web site: AFL - Every Goalkicker. australianfootball.com.
  15. Web site: Suns coach quits after winless campaign. Telstra. AFL Women's. 11 April 2021.
  16. News: Tasmania Devils coach Cameron Joyce signs as Gold Coast's new AFLW coach. Alex. Fair. The Advocate. 2 June 2021.
  17. Web site: Cats coach steps down in wake of one-win season. Sarah. Black. Telstra. AFL Women's. 10 May 2021.
  18. News: Lowther named Geelong AFLW coach. Anna. Harrington. Seven News. 29 June 2021.
  19. Web site: Peta Searle to depart Saints. Telstra. St Kilda. 24 June 2021.
  20. News: 'We're here to win': Former St Kilda champ Dal Santo unveiled as Saints' AFLW coach. Sam. McClure. The Age. 2 August 2021.
  21. News: Michael Prior replaces Daniel Pratt as West Coast Eagles AFLW coach. Catherine. Healey. The West Australian. 7 September 2021.
  22. Web site: AFLW: Randall named as Adelaide’s first standalone women’s captain. Telstra Media. Adelaide. 18 January 2021.
  23. Web site: Zielke to captain AFLW side once again. Telstra Media. Brisbane Lions. 4 December 2020.
  24. Web site: Vescio added to AFLW leadership group. Telstra Media. Carlton. 21 January 2021.
  25. News: Davey, Chiocci named Magpies AFLW skippers. Seven News. 2 December 2020.
  26. Web site: Freo captaincy ‘the best job in the world’. Telstra Media. Fremantle. 13 November 2020.
  27. Web site: Meghan McDonald Named Geelong AFLW Captain. Telstra Media. Geelong. 23 December 2020.
  28. Web site: SUNS Finalise 2021 AFLW Leadership Group. Telstra Media. Gold Coast Suns. 18 January 2021.
  29. Web site: Eva Continues to Lead. Telstra Media. Greater Western Sydney Giants. 7 January 2021.
  30. Web site: Pearce, Paxman to continue in new-look AFLW leadership group. Caitlin. Nobes. Telstra Media. Melbourne. 15 January 2021.
  31. Web site: AFLW: Leadership group finalised. Telstra Media. North Melbourne. 15 January 2021.
  32. Web site: AFLW Tigers announce leadership group. Telstra Media. Richmond. 19 January 2021.
  33. Web site: AFLW Saints name four co-captains for 2021. Telstra Media. St Kilda. 20 January 2021.
  34. News: Emma Swanson to captain West Coast Eagles AFLW team for a second-consecutive season. Mitchell. Woodcock. The West Australian. 19 November 2020.
  35. Web site: Blackburn to continue as captain. Telstra Media. Western Bulldogs. 15 January 2021.

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