AFLW boss Emma Moore says the league will “double down” on its polarising strategy to use small suburban grounds despite criticism from players and former coaches.
An earlier season start is expected to be confirmed for 2025, with the condensed fixture scrapped and the home and away season to feature 12 games in 12 weeks.
While AFL football boss Laura Kane last week said there was an appetite for midweek games to remain, clubs will not have back-to-back short breaks to accommodate those fixtures.
Moore said average crowd and television audiences for the 2024 home and away season had both increased on last year, even including figures from the 15 “experimental timeslot” games which were excluded from the metrics used to determine whether the season expands in 2026.
The attendance average is understood to have included the official figure of 23,085 from Western Bulldogs-Port Adelaide MCG clash during the AFL finals double-header in September.
Players have called for more games at stadiums where they are sheltered from high winds and can display better skill levels, but Moore said there 파워볼 were no plans to back away from the league’s “heartland venues” strategy.
“For next season, we’re focusing on stability and growth, and believe that we have been stable in our decisions and continuing to double down into those is where we will actually achieve growth,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
“I think moving things around constantly doesn’t enable our fans and our players to work out what they’re going to do and how it’s going to be.”
Moore claimed Hawthorn’s use of Kinetic Stadium in Frankston (where five games have been held this season with an average attendance of 2195) had been a great success.