Greater Western Sydney Giants Women

Australia

Founded

2016

Arena

Henson Park · 30,000 cap

In April 2016, the Giants launched a bid to enter a team in the inaugural AFL Women's season in 2017. The club had previously partnered with the local Auburn Giants Football Club and run a female Academy program. They were announced as a founding club in June, receiving one of eight licenses awarded at this time. Former AFL NSW/ACT Female Football High Performance coach Tim Schmidt was announced as the team's inaugural head coach in July 2016. Days later the club announced its first two players, marquee signings Renee Forth and Emma Swanson. As a result of the NSW/ACT talent pool's size and depth, the Giants were granted five priority signings prior to the draft, the most of any club in the league. Prior to the draft, the club had recruited no NSW/ACT players, instead drawing three from Western Australia, three from Victoria and one more from South Australia. In September the Giants won the first selection in the inaugural draft via lottery, and selected Sydney University player Nicola Barr. The team was sponsored by Harvey Norman, FlexiGroup and Sydney Airport in its inaugural season. In July 2017 it was announced Giants AFL director of coaching Alan McConnell would replace Tim Schmidt as coach of side. The 2018 Giants AFLW Captain is Amanda Farrugia and the vice-captain is Alicia Eva.

Adelaide Crows Women

Australia

Founded

2016

Arena

Norwood Oval

The Adelaide AFLW team is the club's women's team in the AFL Women's league. A founding member of the AFLW, the football club launched a bid to enter a team in the 2017 AFL Women's season in April 2016. The bid was constructed in partnership with AFL Northern Territory, with the club to share resources and facilities between its Adelaide base and AFLNT's Darwin location. The bid became a success in June of that year when the league announced they had been awarded one of eight inaugural licences. Under inaugural coach Bec Goddard, the team won the first ever AFLW premiership in 2017. The season was also a highlight for individual success, with co-captain Erin Phillips winning the league most valuable player and best on ground in the grand final. Missing the finals in 2018, Goddard quit as coach and was replaced by Matthew Clarke for the 2019 season. Winning six out of the seven home-and-away games, the club returned to finals and won its second premiership with a 45-point win against Carlton. Erin Phillips repeated her individual success by winning the league MVP for the second time and the grand final best on ground despite leaving the ground injured in the third quarter. It was announced in August 2019 that the partnership between Adelaide and AFLNT would not continue. During the COVID-19-interrupted 2020 season, the Crows slumped to only two wins and failed to reach the finals. The club quickly rose back up the following year and won seven of nine home-and-away matches, and they claimed the minor premiership for the 2021 season before going down to Brisbane by 18 points in the 2021 grand final. Adelaide bounced back the next year to win the 2022 AFL Women's season 6 Grand Final by 13 points, earning their third premiership, the most of any club in the league. In 2022, AFL rivals Port Adelaide were introduced into the women's competition. The two teams met in the first-ever AFLW Showdown on the 30th of September. The occasion drew in a crowd of 20,652 at Adelaide Oval, which was the highest attendance for any game in 2022 season 7. Following their historic back-to-back premierships, Adelaide had consecutive preliminary final exits in season 7 and 2023, with loses to eventual runners-up Brisbane and North Melbourne respectively. Despite this, Adelaide finished 1st in the 2023 home-and-away season, becoming the first team to achieve this on four occasions.