AHEAD of the 10th NAB AFLW season, AFL head of women’s football Emma Moore and executive general manager of football Laura Kane sat down with AFL.com.au to talk about the future of the women’s game.
How do you ensure the AFLW doesn’t get lost in the crossover period with the men’s competition?
Moore: “I think you do exactly what we said we would do, which is we make sure that we build that one-club approach, and that means that we unlock the opportunity that’s sitting in the AFL crowds and fans of their club, and have their attention transferring also to their women’s team.
“It’s actually a beautiful lead-in, and it’s absolutely fantastic because all the meetings we’ve been having with the clubs, all the interactions with the players, is this really strong sense of ‘This is fantastic. We’re launching together. We’re sharing the journey, and our fans are there’.
“We’ve also then done specific activations at the men’s games where we’re talking to directly to those fans to say, your club’s coming up in the women’s, get on board. Here’s the ticketing QR code. This is when it is, buy your tickets and make sure you’re there. It actually gives us a huge amount of opportunity to talk to people who love footy and talk to people who love their team.”
Is there a road map, or hard targets within the ‘AFLW sustainable growth’ plan?
Moore: “There’s absolutely a very clear approach to what we’re going after. Number one, we want to be the best women’s sport in Australia by every measure, and we’re there at some of them, but we want to be along every measure, the top women’s sport in Australia. We also want to be a top five sport in Australia, regardless of men’s or women’s.
“There’s a whole set of things we will be doing to get there. We have a really key focus this season on driving that attendance outcome and really moving the dial on that growth, because that creates a better product for people to watch on television. It creates a great experience for fans. We know that that turns the dial.
“We also have in the CBA, the measures in terms of unlocking [more games] between now and the next CBA, and focusing on that growth attendance will, as time goes on, unlock those things.
“We’re pretty clear about where we’re going in terms of growing attendance, growing our fan base, growing our viewership, growing our content, opportunities to connect with people in more ways, and using our players as a really key component of that because the way our fans connect with the sport, and the way our fans connect with footy is really special in W through our players.”
Mua Laloifi and Ellie Blackburn pose for a photo with fans during week five, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos
AFLW programs have said they are struggling with the soft cap, and attracting quality applicants to assistant coaching ranks given the pay rate. One club runs its program in the evening to ensure its assistant coaches – who are all teachers – can work during the day. Is there scope to increase the cap?
Kane: “Our clubs want to win, and so they will continue to ask, demand, want for better, and so they should, and that shouldn’t stop. Our job is to balance those decisions and the next place we invest, where we spend the next dollar, is a conversation we often have, and that’s certainly one thing that’s on our radar.
“But there are a whole heap of other things that we need to make sure are continuously, sustainably invested in. And [the soft cap is] one part, one of the things on that list. It’s an important piece of the puzzle. But there are a lot of things at the moment that we’re working through.”
Are you concerned it could hinder the pipeline of coaching talent, if there are barriers to assistant coaching ranks?
Kane: “Our best (teams) have really good coaching structures. They have past legends – Darren Crocker will be happy that I’ve called him that – as well as stars of the men’s game, now so invested in the women’s game, so there’s no shortage of opportunities.
“It’s just the phase in which we’re at and making sure that we have diverse experience, diverse people, but also, it’s not just for AFLW. Our women’s coaching acceleration program in our men’s space has been unbelievably beneficial to the women that are coaching in men’s football program.”
Emma Kearney and Darren Crocker celebrate after North Melbourne’s win over Brisbane in the 2024 AFLW Grand Final at Ikon Park. Picture: AFL Photos
The maximum length of W player contracts run until 2027, the expiry of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Given it’s 2025, have discussions started around what W looks like beyond 2027?
Kane: “Absolutely. We’re working with the Players’ Association, and as we enter that new phase, contract length and terms around a CBA is certainly something that’s on the agenda.”
Given the focus on second-tier and community venues, how will you ensure a positive experience for fans, which will in turn, boost attendance?
Moore: “When we did the huge amount of research at the beginning of this year, and really wanted to understand the fans’ motivations and how they felt, what came through really clearly was that the fans that attend W games absolutely love it
“We don’t actually have a challenge in terms of their experience that came through really clearly, and it was something that we wanted to understand. The other part of it is actually the investment that we have been doing for multiple years into our stadia, and doing that in conjunction with our clubs. Multiple of those venues are really well equipped and really well set up.
Fans at the round nine AFLW match between Sydney and Collingwood at Henson Park, October 29, 2023. Picture: Getty Images
“This season, we have a really clear emphasis on ‘This is the baseline experience that we’ll be delivering to ensure fans have a great time’. We know that they do. We want more fans to come along and experience it. So that’s really, really key for us in terms of that approach.
“What we really learned through the Arsenal approach, and quite a lot of the case studies we looked at, was that fans want to be connected to their club, and they want to be connected to it through their local stadia. That actually is what drives so much of the passion in women’s sport. And Arsenal really focused on that, and then stepped through as the crowd spilled out.”
Kane: “We have to lift the experience in some venues, but we also know the deep connection our fans have to their heartland venues, and the history and the generations that some of those venues connects.
“If you take Arden Street, Windy Hill, Punt Road, you can have a grandmother, their child and their child all experiencing or having memories of those venues, so we don’t want to lose that, but we do want to refine the venue so we can ensure a consistent experience.
