The AFL has today confirmed that the 2025 AFLW season will start much earlier than the end of August which could significantly impact the availability of Irish players from next year and beyond.
There is a record number of around three dozen Irish women on the books of AFLW clubs this year, but there are no guarantees that the status quo will remain in the future.
The current schedule runs from August to November with last year’s Grand Final in early December.
Irish AFLW players have taken advantage of the opportunity to play in the GAA without any restrictions on their availability during AFLW off-seasons, but if the AFL decides to push the AFLW season start date back to July there would be an inevitable cross-code clash with the All-Ireland Ladies’ Football finals scheduled for the first weekend of August.
The AFL has made a fixturing change one of its top priorities as AFLW has expanded from 10 regular season games in 2023 to 11 this year and 12 in 2025.
If there was no change to the itinerary the AFLW Grand Final would run into mid-December.
In addition, the expansion to 11 games this year has resulted in a flurry of midweek matches to finish the season no later than early December.
This has proved unpopular with a majority of coaches as players have become more susceptible to injury without a week’s break between matches.
“I think next year as it goes to 12 it will necessitate us bringing the season forward and into the men’s (home-and-away) season,” AFL boss Andrew Dillon said.
“Then the conversation will be (about) how much earlier do we bring it forward and when do we want to finish the season?
“We still want to be playing through October and November, I think that’s really important for us.
“It’s just when we start and trying to get that right.”
And Dillon added: “I’m not ruling July out, but we just need to work through it.”
Fermanagh star Blaithin Bogue is the only Ulster signing in AFLW this year who has yet to make her season debut. The Tempo woman only arrived in Australia last month having been part his county’s All-Ireland Junior Championship win on August 4 and is understandably still learning the nuances of Australian Rules.
Her North Melbourne contract stipulates that she is required to arrive in Australia earlier next year, but how that plays out is uncertain at this stage.