Is AFLW’s night grand final a sign of things to come for AFL decider?

The annual debate over the AFL grand final timeslot has taken another twist, with the women’s decider to be held at night for the first time.

While AFL football boss Laura Kane says the timing of the men’s and women’s grand finals are separate issues, the first night decider in either competition will only fuel the discussion.

The AFLW will also ditch its much-maligned condensed fixture, with year’s home-and-away schedule to be 12 rounds played over 12 weeks.

Fixturing was a hot topic at Wednesday’s launch of the AFLW finals series. The grand final will be held on Saturday, November 30, with a 7.45pm AEDT start.

The highest-ranked team after the preliminary finals will host the grand final and the Melbourne venue would be Ikon Park, regardless of ticket sales.

If a non-Victorian team hosts the grand final, the match will still begin at 7.45pm AEDT.

There is a perennial push to make the AFL grand final a twilight or night game, which the NRL has done successfully for several seasons.

The only AFL change has been twilight grand finals in the COVID-19-affected seasons.

“This is different. This isn’t an experiment, this takes into account really clear growth,” Kane said of the women’s grand final.

“Here we have an opportunity to do things differently. You don’t have the same history, we have a different proposition, a different product.

“We can do things to mix it up a little bit.

“But I don’t expect that (AFL) question to slow now, in particular.”

Three-time Adelaide premiership player Erin Phillips will be the AFLW cup ambassador for the finals series.

Kane was upbeat about the 2024 season, despite controversy around the condensed fixture and its midweek games, as well as concerns about crowds and game quality.

“It was an incredible season, we were up in every metric ... the growth we all want to see, and have worked so hard to see in W has been on display,” she said.

While the AFLW is yet to confirm next year’s fixture, AFL women’s football boss Emma Moore indicated it would revert to the traditional format of one round per week.

Kane added there had been some “surprisingly” good feedback about the condensed fixture.

“We had positivity - we had clubs who travelled over to Melbourne for two weeks, to play three games, and they told me if they won those games, they would like it and if they lost them, they might not,” she said.

“There were players who said they prefer playing instead of training.

“But overall, we heard the feedback as a collective and all things considered ... we will look to make changes.

“On balance, the feedback was players wanting more space between each game. When we come out (with) the season structure for next year, you’ll see how that’s managed and navigated.”

This women’s season was the largest yet, with 99 home-and-away games, and next year that will expand again to 108.