2026 AFL Women's season

The 2025 season marked the end of a ten-season, league-wide partnership between the AFL Women's and Cotton On, which had supplied apparel for all 18 clubs since the competition's inception, meaning that clubs could partner with their existing Australian Football League (AFL) suppliers for the first time; by October 2025, midway through the season, North Melbourne was the first club to announce such a partnership, with its new deal with Kookaburra covering all four of its teams.^[1] Hawthorn was the only club to partner with a separate supplier for its AFLW team, opting for Jaggad, owned by former AFL players Steve Greene and Chris Judd.^[2]

In April 2026, AFLW executive general manager Laura Kane announced that the 2026 season would feature four double-headers with AFL matches, including at least one at the AFL-owned Marvel Stadium, after several clubs asked for double-headers as part of their fixture requests; only six AFL/AFLW double-headers had been held previously, with the league prioritising smaller venues in recent seasons.^[3] Kane later elaborated that opinions of double-headers in the competition had changed over the years; clubs had previously wanted to avoid AFLW matches being seen as curtain-raisers to AFL matches, but there had been growing interest from players to play in double-headers and at larger venues, and clubs had started to take a "one-club approach".^[4] This approach was further reinforced by a growing number of AFLW players assuming roles as game day hosts for their clubs during the AFL season, both to upskill their public speaking and off-field development and cross-promote the AFLW season at men's matches.^[5]

The competition's first pre-season draft was held on 4 May,^[6] with players returning to their clubs for pre-season training a week later.^[7] Earlier in the year, the AFL pitched the concept of an expanded pre-season schedule to clubs to further assist in the development of younger and inexperienced players, giving clubs the option of playing up to five unofficial match simulations and an official practice match; clubs had previously only played one of each, with some also utilising state leagues to varying degrees.^[8] Clubs eventually agreed to a schedule of three match simulations and a practice match beginning in early July.^[9] A vision-based score review system was introduced for the season, replacing the seldom-used ball-tracking technology introduced in 2024, with four goal post cameras installed at each AFLW venue; the new review system was similar to the one used in the AFL, where an official would review every score based on Hawk-Eye vision, but did not give the option for goal umpires to call for a score review.^[10]

A representative Australian rules football match between the competition's best Australian and Irish players was held at North Sydney Oval on 1 August,^[11] the first AFLW representative match since the 2017 State of Origin match;^[12] the league chose not to schedule a twilight match in the AFL on that day to avoid an overlap with the representative match,^[13] which was broadcast live on Fox Footy, Kayo Sports, Kayo Freebies and Binge.^[14] The match sold out weeks in advance, but the AFL resisted calls from players to move it to the larger Sydney Cricket Ground, preferring to keep the match at a sold-out smaller venue rather than a partially-filled larger venue;^[15] the league instead set up a ticket waitlist for tickets that became available closer to the match and partnered with several venues in Sydney and Melbourne to host watch parties.^[16] Australia won the encounter by 50 points, in a match described by afl.com.au as "a thrilling exhibition of international football"^[17] and by Fox Sports as "an entertaining clash full of highlights" that showcased the competition's evolution.^[18]

Leading into the season, North Melbourne, which had not lost a match since the 2023 AFL Women's Grand Final, was predicted unanimously by experts from Fox Sports^[19] and ESPN,^[20] and by all but one expert from the Herald Sun, to win a third consecutive premiership;^[21] 15 club captains tipped North Melbourne as the club most likely outside their own to reach the grand final, with Melbourne and Brisbane the other clubs tipped to feature.^[22] North Melbourne's Jasmine Garner and West Coast's Ella Roberts were the two pre-season favourites to win the AFL Women's best and fairest award.^{[19][20][21][22]}

The season will feature a twelve-round home-and-away season and conclude with the 2026 AFL Women's Grand Final on the final weekend of November.^[65] The season began on 9 August with a double-header at Marvel Stadium, with St Kilda hosting Carlton before the same clubs' AFL teams played in the sixth annual Spud's Game,^[66] held to honour former St Kilda AFL captain Danny Frawley and raise funds for mental health;^[67] the remaining round 1 matches will take place the following weekend, including two more AFL/AFLW double-headers, while Sydney will host Essendon in round 2 at the Sydney Cricket Ground before its AFL match against North Melbourne.^[68] For the third consecutive season, the Dreamtime match between Essendon and Richmond will be held in Darwin^[69] and Sydney will host a match in Coffs Harbour, this time against St Kilda, with both matches to take place in round 3.^[70] The season will also three AFLW double-headers, in rounds 4, 7 and 10.^[71] Two clubs shifted their primary home venues to their training facilities, with Fremantle moving its home matches to Cockburn ARC and Hawthorn moving most of its home matches to the newly-built Kennedy Community Centre, while Adelaide moved all of its home matches to Thomas Farms Oval, having previously played some of its home matches at Norwood Oval.^[72]

All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au

Updated to the end of round 6.

Updated to the end of round 5.

Source: Australian Football

Updated to the Hawthorn v North Melbourne (round 6).

The following table includes all home match attendance figures from the home-and-away season.

More information Team, Hosted ...

Team	Hosted	Total	Highest	Lowest	Average
					2025[77]	2026[78]	Change
Adelaide	3	8,964	3,640	2,560	2,805	2,988	183
Brisbane	2	5,638	2,983	2,655	3,629	2,819	810
Carlton	2	3,991	2,012	1,979	3,144	1,996	1,148
Collingwood	2	4,220	2,604	1,616	2,530	2,110	420
Essendon	2	6,057	4,017	2,040	2,545	3,029	484
Fremantle	3	7,124	2,752	1,858	2,239	2,375	136
Geelong	2	18,128	15,266	2,862	2,609	9,064	6,455
Gold Coast	3	4,480	1,838	1,170	1,281	1,493	212
Greater Western Sydney	2	4,014	2,112	1,902	1,624	2,007	383
Hawthorn	4	10,784	3,424	2,118	2,163	2,696	533
Melbourne	3	4,961	1,762	1,505	2,037	1,654	383
North Melbourne	3	19,635	14,573	1,014	2,081	6,545	4,464
Port Adelaide	2	4,987	2,706	2,281	2,584	2,494	90
Richmond	3	5,500	2,146	1,423	2,492	1,833	659
St Kilda	2	22,287	20,455	1,832	2,101	11,144	9,043
Sydney	3	26,721	16,672	2,709	4,498	8,907	4,409
West Coast	3	4,340	1,511	1,332	1,919	1,447	472
Western Bulldogs	2	4,353	2,211	2,142	2,400	2,177	223
Total/overall	46	166,184	20,455	1,014	2,482	3,613	1,131

Close

Source: Australian Football

Updated to the Hawthorn v North Melbourne (round 6).

The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Home matches are in bold, and opponents are listed above the margins.

Source: Australian Football

• 2026 AFL season