AFLW 2020 kicks off with more than just football of importance | Kirby Fenwick | Sport

With four new teams entering the AFLW competition this year, inevitably the opening round focus would be on how they fared. The results may not have been what the newcomers wanted, but the first round brought more than just some tough welcomes – it also highlighted the very real impact of the season length.

On Friday night, Richmond and Carlton opened the season at Princes Park in front of a crowd of 15,337. But the occasion seemed to overawe the Tigers, who were touted as a team to watch prior to the season given their aggressive recruitment strategies. Instead, they struggled to convert and put no scoreboard pressure on the Blues who looked faster and stronger than last season. A bright spot for the Tigers was the first club goal kicked by recruit Sabrina Frederick who never looked like missing when she lined up in the final quarter.

However, for many Richmond fans, the disappointing result was outweighed by something much more significant. Tigers coach Tom Hunter said after the final siren that it was “one of those nights when it was just a little bit bigger than footy. For the Richmond Football Club to have a women’s side run out for the first time, in their inaugural season, in front of so many yellow and black supporters tonight… it meant a lot to a lot of people.”

Similar feelings pervaded the weekend as the Gold Coast, West Coast and St Kilda made their debuts. What happened on the field mattered, of course. But there was a significance to these four games that went beyond the final score. No matter the result, new histories were written.

For the Suns, their welcome to the competition came with a side of torrential rain in Sydney as they faced the Giants. Led by co-captains Leah Kasler and Sam Virgo, the Suns were out of the blocks early and look an exciting squad. But the weather – forecasters had predicted up to 200mm of rain – at Blacktown had other ideas. A tough and scrappy match kept the scores to single digits but it also gave fans an edge-of-their seat finish as the one point margin meant it truly was anyone’s game right up until the dying seconds. In an interesting twist, first goal honours for the Suns went to Britt Perry who had previously played for the Giants.

West Coast fared slightly better in the weather stakes, but like the Suns before them, could not sustain their early momentum. Taking advantage of the windy conditions, the Eagles struck first, Dana Hooker slotting the team’s first AFLW goal in the opening minutes of the first quarter. But it was Collingwood all the way for the next three quarters, the Magpies jubilant to finally get a first up win.

St Kilda returned to Moorabbin for the first time since 1992 for their AFLW debut in front of a lock-out crowd of 8,000. They faced the Bulldogs who stamped their authority early and left the Saints to play catch up all day. While they may have failed to claw the Dogs back, the Saints etched a fascinating bit of history in their record books. Molly McDonald booted the club’s first AFLW goal, nearly 150 years after another McDonald became the first male player to kick a goal for the Saints. You couldn’t script it.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that not one of the new teams recorded a win over the weekend. After all, they faced teams with three seasons of experience under their belt. Post-match, West Coast coach Luke Dwyer said it was only the team’s third ever game together. His comment spoke volumes about the way the new clubs have been established and more broadly about the structure of the shortened competition.

On the ABC’s Offsiders programme over the weekend, Olympian Kim Brennan spoke about the nature of expansion in women’s sport. “I think you have to be aggressive in expansion,” she said, “to increase opportunities and stimulate that supply and demand issue.” But Brennan questioned the choice to only play eight games. “My question mark would be whether eight games is enough to actually improve the amount of match experience and the quality of the players to really drive up the standard of play in line with the accelerated expansion.”

In previous years teams have improved across the season as they play more games together and begin to build the kind of awareness of and experience with each other that creates a cohesive group. Moreover, as individual players, more game time builds the skill and experience that lifts the standard of the competition. It’s a simple equation. Only, it’s one the AFL seems reluctant to address. The shortened seasons have persisted despite an increase in the number of teams and will only extend by one game a year for the next two years. Add to that mix the reduced quarters and it’s a double whammy that stands directly in the path of the development of the league and the players.

While aggressive expansion should be celebrated – and fans of the Tigers, Suns, Eagles and Saints will be celebrating their entry to the competition no matter the result – what must come with that expansion is a plan to create the kind of environment, and the time, that fosters player and team development. Right now, that environment does not exist.