A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2022 AFL Women's season 7 | |
|---|---|
 Melbourne players celebrate after winning the 2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final | |
| Date | 25 August—27 November 2022 |
| Teams | 18 |
| Premiers | Melbourne 1st premiership |
| Runners-up | Brisbane 3rd runners-up result |
| Minor premiers | Brisbane 2nd minor premiership |
| Best and fairest | Ally Anderson (Brisbane) 21 votes |
| Leading goalkicker | Jesse Wardlaw (Brisbane) 19 goals |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 99 |
| Total attendance | 265,950 (2,686 per match) |
| Highest (H&A) | 20,652 (round 6, Port Adelaide v Adelaide) |
| Highest (finals) | 7,412 (grand final, Brisbane v Melbourne) |
2022 AFL Women's season 7 was the seventh season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs, marking the first time all Australian Football League (AFL) clubs participated in the competition, and ran from 25 August to 27 November, comprising a ten-round home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top eight clubs. It was the second AFL Women's season to take place in the 2022 calendar year[1] and the first to have an August start date.[2] AFL clubs Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney featured for the first time in season 7.
Melbourne won the premiership, defeating Brisbane by four points in the 2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final. Brisbane won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 9–1 win–loss record. Brisbane's Ally Anderson won the AFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and teammate Jesse Wardlaw won the AFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.
Background
| Tier | Wage (AU$) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $71,935 |
| 2 | $55,559 |
| 3 | $47,372 |
| 4 | $39,184 |
In August 2021, Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney – the four Australian Football League (AFL) clubs yet to receive an AFLW licence at the time – were granted licences to join the AFL Women's competition in what was then slated to be a 2022–23 season, meaning all 18 clubs would have an AFLW team for the first time.[4] In May 2022, a one-year bridging collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was announced which would see the competition's seventh season begin during the AFL pre-finals bye in the last weekend of August and conclude with the grand final in the last weekend of November.[3] The CBA also saw player payments rise by 94% across all four payment tiers, with eight players per club occupying the top two tiers and the minimum (tier 4) wage increasing from $20,239 to $39,184.[3] Later in May, AFL head of women's football Nicole Livingstone revealed that the season would be named AFLW season 7, in a deviation from previous seasons.[5]
The season 7 fixture was announced in early July.[6] Match times on Saturdays in September (except 24 September, the date of the AFL Grand Final) were floating to maximise doubleheader opportunities, and the final round was released as a floating fixture to be determined later in the season.[6] In August, after the round 1 match between Essendon and Hawthorn was moved from ETU Stadium to Marvel Stadium following a sell-out,[7] Livingstone said that the AFL would consider moving more matches to larger venues depending on ticket sales;[8] the round 2 match between Melbourne and North Melbourne was moved to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to act as a curtain raiser to the AFL qualifying final between Melbourne and Sydney.[9]
Season 7's Indigenous Round was launched in early September, and was played across rounds 3 and 4.[10] The round is held to acknowledge the significant contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls to Australian football and the broader community.[10] Aunty Pam Pederson, the youngest daughter of Sir Douglas Nicholls, was announced as the round's honouree, and all 18 teams wore specially-designed guernseys across the two weeks.[10] Melbourne rebranded itself as the Narrm Football Club for Indigenous Round, as it did during the corresponding round of the AFL season; Narrm is the traditional name for Melbourne in the Woiwurrung language.[11] Pride Round, which was played in round 8, was launched in early October.[12] The round is held "to promote and support diversity and inclusion of LGBTQI+ communities and families, and acknowledges the AFL's journey to being a more inclusive sport"; this season's iteration also celebrated allies of LGBTQI+ people within the sport.[12] Like with Indigenous Round, all 18 teams wore specially-designed guernseys for the occasion.[13]
The season began on 25 August with a match between Carlton and Collingwood[14] and concluded on 27 November with the 2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final, contested by Brisbane and Melbourne.[15] The season featured ten home-and-away rounds, the same as the previous season, and a four-week finals series, up from three weeks the previous season; the finals were contested by the top eight teams, up from six the previous season,[16] and the finals system was the same as the AFL's.[17] Melbourne won its first AFL Women's premiership, defeating Brisbane by four points in the grand final, played at Brighton Homes Arena.[15] All matches throughout season 7 were broadcast live on the Seven Network and Fox Footy, and could be streamed via Kayo, womens.afl and the official AFL and AFLW apps.[18]
Coach appointments
| New coach | Club | Date of appointment | Previous coach | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bec Goddard | Hawthorn | 12 August 2021 | Inaugural | [19] |
| Scott Gowans | Sydney | 4 February 2022 | Inaugural | [20] |
| Natalie Wood | Essendon | 18 March 2022 | Inaugural | [21] |
| Lauren Arnell | Port Adelaide | 12 April 2022 | Inaugural | [22] |
| Cameron Bernasconi | Greater Western Sydney | 12 April 2022 | Alan McConnell | [23] |
Club leadership
Home-and-away season
All starting times are local time. Sources: womens.afl (fixture and results), Australian Football (crowd figures)
Round 1
| Round 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 25 August (7:10 pm) | Carlton 3.0 (18) | def. by | Collingwood 5.6 (36) | Ikon Park (crowd: 4,128) | |
| Friday, 26 August (7:10 pm) | Adelaide 4.2 (26) | def. by | Melbourne 6.8 (44) | ACH Group Stadium (crowd: 3,417) | |
| Saturday, 27 August (1:10 pm) | North Melbourne 6.4 (40) | def. | Gold Coast 2.2 (14) | Blundstone Arena (crowd: 2,459) | |
| Saturday, 27 August (1:10 pm) | West Coast 6.4 (40) | def. | Port Adelaide 4.4 (28) | Mineral Resources Park (crowd: 1,846) | |
| Saturday, 27 August (5:10 pm) | Sydney 4.3 (27) | def. by | St Kilda 8.8 (56) | North Sydney Oval (crowd: 8,264) | |
| Saturday, 27 August (7:10 pm) | Essendon 7.11 (53) | def. | Hawthorn 4.3 (27) | Marvel Stadium (crowd: 12,092) | |
| Sunday, 28 August (12:10 pm) | Western Bulldogs 6.5 (41) | def. | Greater Western Sydney 5.4 (34) | Ikon Park (crowd: 1,890) | |
| Sunday, 28 August (2:10 pm) | Brisbane 11.10 (76) | def. | Fremantle 4.3 (27) | The Gabba (crowd: 3,421) | |
| Sunday, 28 August (4:10 pm) | Geelong 2.3 (15) | def. | Richmond 1.5 (11) | GMHBA Stadium (crowd: 4,252) | |
| |||||
Round 2
| Round 2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, 2 September (5:00 pm) | Melbourne 3.8 (26) | def. | North Melbourne 4.0 (24) | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 17,851) | |
| Saturday, 3 September (11:40 am) | Richmond 4.3 (27) | def. by | Adelaide 5.6 (36) | Swinburne Centre (crowd: 1,075) | |
| Saturday, 3 September (1:10 pm) | Port Adelaide 1.3 (9) | def. by | Western Bulldogs 3.10 (28) | Alberton Oval (crowd: 5,367) | |
| Saturday, 3 September (11:40 am) | Fremantle 0.1 (1) | def. by | Geelong 3.9 (27) | Fremantle Community Bank Oval (crowd: 1,086) | |
| Sunday, 4 September (11:10 am) | Essendon 4.7 (31) | def. by | Carlton 5.2 (32) | ETU Stadium (crowd: 2,738) | |
| Sunday, 4 September (1:10 pm) | Collingwood 6.9 (45) | def. | Sydney 2.2 (14) | Victoria Park (crowd: 1,976) | |
| Sunday, 4 September (3:10 pm) | Greater Western Sydney 3.2 (20) | def. by | Brisbane 10.7 (67) | Manuka Oval (crowd: 2,342) | |
| Sunday, 4 September (4:10 pm) | Hawthorn 1.4 (10) | def. by | St Kilda 9.9 (63) | Box Hill City Oval (crowd: 2,262) | |
| Sunday, 4 September (5:10 pm) | Gold Coast 7.5 (47) | def. | West Coast 2.2 (14) | Metricon Stadium (crowd: 860) | |
| |||||