| VFL Women's | |
| Current Season: | 2024 VFL Women's season |
| Last Season: | 2024 VFL Women's season |
| Pixels: | 175 |
| Sport: | Australian rules football |
| Founded: | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Administrator: | AFL Victoria |
| Inaugural: | 2016 |
| Teams: | 12 |
| Country: | Australia |
| Champion: | (1st premiership) |
| Most Champs: | (2 premierships) |
| Tv: | Seven Network (grand final only) |
| Sponsor: | Rebel |
| Related Comps: | AFL Women's Victorian Football League SANFL Women's WAFL Women's |
| Website: | afl.com.au/vfl |
VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL), and has since evolved into what is also the second primary competition for AFL Women's (AFLW) clubs in Victoria.
Following the 2017 season, the VFL Women's was reconfigured to affiliate teams more closely with AFL clubs. Since 2021, twelve teams have appeared in the competition; all ten Victorian AFL clubs either field their own women's team or have an affiliation of sorts with an existing club in the VFLW, with the other teams being VFL-affiliated and independent club . The reigning premiers are .
The competition was not held in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the grand final was also cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic, with no premiership being awarded.
AFL Victoria launched the VFL Women's competition on 21 March 2016, with its inaugural season featuring twelve doubleheaders with the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1] The league initially comprised the six Premier Division clubs (Eastern Devils,, St Kilda Sharks and) and 2015's top four Division 1 clubs (and) from the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL). Melbourne University already had an existing partnership with Australian Football League (AFL) club .[2] Following the 2016 season, the Geelong Magpies were replaced with the AFL-aligned, and Knox's license was purchased by (then subsequently re-licensed to in 2018[3]).
Following the inaugural AFL Women's (AFLW) season in 2017, the league made further changes to the competition to affiliate clubs more directly with AFL clubs and the AFL Women's competition. Five other foundation clubs departed, leaving Darebin, Melbourne University and Western Spurs as the only remaining foundation clubs. The departing clubs were replaced by the AFL-aligned,,, and Southern Saints, the VFL-aligned and, and the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL)-aligned ;[4] Northern Territory aligned with 's AFLW team, giving Crows players an opportunity to play in the Victorian competition.[5] The joined in 2018 under a shared license with the Western Spurs, with the senior Spurs team competing as the Western Bulldogs and wearing red, white and blue.[6] The Western Spurs' license was handed over entirely to the Bulldogs ahead of the 2019 season, with the Spurs fielding teams solely in the Northern Football Netball League.[7]
In 2019, 's AFLW team played five invitational matches in Victoria against teams having a bye.[8] Following the 2019 season, AFL Northern Territory ended Northern Territory's involvement in the NEAFL and VFLW competitions,[9] and Williamstown aligned with Adelaide in Northern Territory's place.[10] Melbourne University's license was also taken over by, ending the clubs' ten-year partnership and allowing North Melbourne to field its own standalone team.[11] In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, AFL Victoria decided to cancel the 2020 VFL Women's season and instead hold a four-team Super Series in September to give 120 footballers the chance to push their case to be selected in the 2020 AFL Women's draft;[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] this was later cancelled as well due to the increase of restrictions around COVID-19 in Victoria.[17]
The Coburg Football Club, already competing in the VFL, formed a women's team in 2020 with a plan to join the VFLW in 2021. However, the plan did not eventuate.[18]
In 2021, joined the league, replacing Richmond, which initially left the competition due to financial issues before entering into a formal alignment with the VFL club.[19] [20] The competition also shifted to a February commencement, running concurrently with the AFLW season and mirroring other second-tier leagues like the SANFL Women's and WAFL Women's.[19] In 2023, the competition commenced in March, and Hawthorn transferred its license back to Box Hill.[21]
Starting in 2024, the home-and-away season included matches against New South Wales AFL Women's teams and ; the New South Wales teams are not premiership eligible, but there will be premiership points available for the Victorian clubs in the matches.[22]
| Club | Colours | Moniker | Home Ground | Former League | Years in VFLW | Premierships | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type=number | Total | Most recent | ||||||||
| style=text-align:left | Hawks | Box Hill City Oval, Box Hill | – | 1936 | 2017- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Blues | Princes Park, Carlton North | – | 1864 | 2018- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Demons | Casey Fields, Cranbourne East | – | 1902 | 2018- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Magpies | Victoria Park, Abbotsford | – | 1892 | 2018- | 1 | 2019 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Falcons | Bill Lawry Oval, Northcote | VWFL | 1990 | 2016- | 2 | 2017 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Bombers | The Hangar, Melbourne Airport | – | 1871 | 2018- | 1 | 2022 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Geelong | Cats | Deakin University Elite Sports Precinct, Waurn Ponds | – | 1859 | 2017- | 0 | — | ||
| style=text-align:left | Kangaroos | Arden Street Oval, North Melbourne | – | 1869 | 2021- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Borough | North Port Oval, Port Melbourne | – | 1874 | 2021- | 1 | 2023 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Saints | Trevor Barker Beach Oval, Sandringham | – | 2017 | 2018- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Bulldogs | Whitten Oval, Footscray | – | 1877 | 2018- | 0 | — | |||
| style=text-align:left | Seagulls | Williamstown Cricket Ground, Williamstown | – | 1864 | 2018- | 0 | — | |||
| Club | Colours | Moniker | Home Ground | Former League | Years in VFLW | Premierships | Current league | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Most recent | |||||||||||
| style=text-align:left | Eagles | Frenken Homes Oval, Clyde North | VWFL | 1889 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | SFNL | |||
| style=text-align:left | Demons, Creekers | C.T. Barling Reserve, Reservoir | VWFL | 2002 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | NFNL | |||
| style=text-align:left | Eastern Devils | Devils | Mulgrave Reserve, Mulgrave | VWFL | 1999 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | EFNL | ||
| style=text-align:left | Magpies | Osborne Park, North Geelong | VWFL | 1876 | 2016 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | GDFNL | |||
| style=text-align:left | Hawks | Box Hill City Oval, Box Hill | – | 1902 | 2018-2022 | 2018 | style=text-align:left | AFLW | ||||
| style=text-align:left | Falcons | Knox Gardens Reserve, Wantirna South | VWFL | 1980 | 2016 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | EFNL | |||
| style=text-align:left | Mugars | Main Oval, University of Melbourne, Parkville | VWFL | 1996 | 2016-2019 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | VAFAW | |||
| style=text-align:left | Thunder | Marrara Oval, Marrara | – | 2008 | 2018-2019 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | Folded | |||
| style=text-align:left | Tigers | Punt Road Oval, East Melbourne | – | 1885 | 2018-2019 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | AFLW | |||
| style=text-align:left | Tigerettes | RF Miles Recreation Reserve, Seaford | VWFL | 1921 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | MPFNL | |||
| style=text-align:left | St Kilda Sharks | Sharks | Peanut Farm Reserve, St Kilda | VWFL | 1992 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | In recess | ||
| style=text-align:left | Spurs | Henry Turner Memorial Reserve, Footscray | VWFL | 1993 | 2016-2017 | 0 | - | style=text-align:left | WFNL | |||
See main article: List of VFL Women's premiers.
See main article: Lambert–Pearce Medal.