SANFL Women's League
Australian rules football league
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SANFL Women's League (also known as the SANFLW or the Hostplus SANFL Women's League) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in South Australia.
Upcoming season or competition: 2026 SANFL Women's League season | |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 2017 |
| First season | 2017 |
| Administrator | SANFL |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most recent champions | South Adelaide (4th premiership) |
| Most titles | South Adelaide (4 premierships) |
| Broadcaster | Seven Network (Grand Final only) |
| Official website | www.sanfl.com.au/women |
History
The league was launched in February 2017, initially comprising four clubs from the men's South Australian National Football League (SANFL). The league now features eight teams, and acts as the second primary competition for South Australian female footballers underneath the semi-professional national AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, as well as being one of the three elite leagues in women's Australian rules football (the VFLW, SANFLW and WAFLW).
The SANFLW usually runs from February to May, meaning it partially overlapped with the AFLW season prior to AFLW Season 7, and so has been mostly played by players either not yet drafted by an AFLW club or AFLW listed players not selected for a senior premiership match.
In 2022, the SANFL Commission introduced the SANFL Women's Development League, a seven-week reserves competition providing players from the eight clubs with the opportunity to play at a level beneath the senior competition.[1] The competition was replaced with the SANFL Under-18 Girls competition in 2026, with the eligibility being players turning 15 (minimum age) to 18 (maximum age) in the calendar year of the season and up to four 19-year-olds per team per match, provided they are listed on a senior team list.[2]
Clubs
The first season comprised four SANFL clubs: Norwood, Glenelg, North Adelaide and West Adelaide.[3] The following year, Sturt and South Adelaide were admitted to the competition, with Woodville-West Torrens and Central District being admitted in 2019.[4]
Neither of the state's two AFL clubs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide, who field reserves teams in the SANFL, field teams in the SANFLW; Adelaide were a foundation club of the AFLW in 2017, while Port Adelaide entered the league in 2022.
| Club Name | Club Colours | Club Nickname | Home venue | Est. | First SANFLW season |
SANFLW seasons |
SANFLW premierships |
Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central District |  |
Bulldogs | Elizabeth Oval | 1959 | 2019 | 7 | 1 | 2023 |
| Glenelg |  |
Tigers | Glenelg Oval | 1920 | 2017 | 9 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Adelaide |  |
Roosters | Prospect Oval | 1888 | 2017 | 9 | 2 | 2022 |
| Norwood | .svg) |
Redlegs | Norwood Oval | 1878 | 2017 | 9 | 1 | 2017 |
| South Adelaide |  |
Panthers | Hickinbotham Oval | 1876 | 2018 | 8 | 4 | 2025 |
| Sturt |  |
Double Blues | Unley Oval | 1901 | 2018 | 8 | 0 | — |
| West Adelaide |  |
Bloods | Richmond Oval | 1892 | 2017 | 9 | 0 | -- |
| Woodville-West Torrens |  |
Eagles | Woodville Oval | 1991 | 2019 | 7 | 0 | — |
Honours
Premiers
This lists the most recent premiers. For a full list of premiers see List of SANFL Women's League premiers.
- 2025: South Adelaide
Best and Fairest Award
This lists the most recent best and fairest winner. For a full list of winners see SANFL Women's League Best and Fairest Award.
- 2025: Zoe Venning (West Adelaide)