Grading will be removed, the number of divisions will be reduced, and promotion and relegation will be implemented among key changes proposed for women’s football in the AFL Barwon region.
Clubs were given the opportunity to respond to various proposals made by the local governing body’s Football and Netball Operations Committee by today (Thursday) for the 2025 season and beyond.
AFL Barwon has proposed the three-division structure be reduced back to two, with the teams finishing in the top half of Division Two in 2024 to join Division One next year.
The bottom half of Division Two and all Division Three teams from this year will form the second division.
AFL Barwon says the removal of the four grading rounds will result in four additional home-and-away rounds being played while also allowing fixturing to be done in line with the Bellarine and GFNL as AFL Barwon looks to transition senior women’s football to Saturday.
The Total Player Points system introduced into Division 1 in 2022 will be implemented in both divisions.
Promotion and relegation are on the cards for 2026, with the top two teams in Division 2 after next year’s home-and-away season to be promoted and the bottom two teams in Division 1 to be relegated.
New teams will only be able to enter at senior level if they can field a team in one of under-16s, 14s, 12s, 10s, or 9s.
AFL Barwon also plans to hold next year’s under-18 competition on a Friday night.
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