GEORGIE PARKER: The AFLW is burning a hole in the game’s coffers. But the game can’t grow without it.

A recent report revealed the AFLW is costing the AFL close to $100 million a year, while bringing in just half of that in return.

On the surface it’s an alarming figure, especially in an industry and society obsessed with return on investment.

It’s raised valid questions. Has the league cooked itself by expanding the women’s comp too quickly?

Can it sustain this kind of financial, for lack of a better word, burden? And most importantly, how does the governing body legitimise the AFLW when the numbers don’t stack up?

It is worrying. The numbers demand attention, and something needs to shift if the league is to move out of the red. But while so many will tell you the AFLW’s value can only be about dollars, it’s not as as simple as that.

Let’s start with what the critics are circling, the 18 teams after just eight years of existence.

Was it too fast? Probably. The rapid expansion stretched an limited talent base, infrastructure, and I hate to say it, interest.

When you compare this with the thriving NRLW with less teams, and highlighted by their marquee event, the State of Origin, it is obvious the AFLW is too big.

But I also understand why they had to expand so quickly. The parochialism and rivalries of our great game is a reason we love the sport, but also the reason for its growth. But what’s done its irreversible.

Do we wait and see the fruits of investment? And if so, how long do we wait?

These are tough questions, but I would like to add the men’s competition didn’t start printing money overnight either- it took decades of expansion, mergers, relocations and reinvention before becoming a commercial beast.

I hear the arguments of “but they didn’t get paid like the women” come rolling in, and of course they didn’t but they also didn’t have decades of systemic sexism and the continued pressure that the AFLW has to “justify” its existence either. Believing women should wait 100-years because the “men did” is stupid.

The challenge is keeping people - the AFL included - patient. The league needs to help fence-sitters see the bigger picture, which is if you create a healthy women’s game that adds to the already-healthy men’s one.

My niece adores Richmond’s AFLW team, but with just 14 matches in a season, her love for the Tigers doesn’t just dissipate once the women’s season ends. Instead, she keeps supporting the club through following the men, buying their merchandise and attending their games. The impact of AFLW isn’t contained to one league. It ripples across the club, league and business of footy.

There’s also the grassroots effect.

Girls’ participation has exploded in the last decade, thanks to visible role models in AFLW. That’s future talent, future members and future fans. That also doesn’t go on the AFLW balance sheet, but the women’s game has shifted a dial that the men could never.

The AFL posted a profit of over $45m in 2024, proof that the overall game is in strong shape. So perhaps the real question isn’t ‘can we afford AFLW?’ but instead, ‘can we afford not to back it properly?’

Yes, it needs to be more efficient. And yes, things need to change to make the model sustainable.

Legitimising the league isn’t just about closing the financial gap, it’s about recognising the value that isn’t always visible in a balance sheet. Still, we need action.

Better scheduling. More marketing. Bigger buy-in from clubs. And honest conversations about what success looks like 15 years from now.

The idea that AFLW is a financial black hole doesn’t tell the full story. It’s an investment and one that is delivering, but just in less obvious ways.

The AFLW is not failing, it’s still forming. And like all good things, it will need time.