The head of the AFL has identified the women’s competition as the single biggest opportunity for growth within the code’s landscape, even as he spruiked the opportunities in India and the US.
Chief executive Andrew Dillon addressed the game’s major issues in discussion with broadcaster Eddie McGuire at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.
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Dillon said the AFLW was most important thing for the future of Australian rules football. “I absolutely see the future for us, and how we’ll grow and be even bigger, is the AFLW competition,” he said.
The AFLW has been criticised by some for its inability to leverage growing enthusiasm for women’s sport, and players and fans have criticised head office’s apparent disregard for the female competition.
Average crowds for AFLW were less than 3,000 per match last season, compared to almost 40,000 for the men’s competition.
Dillon said growth wasn’t going to be immediate, but the potential of the AFLW warranted the commitment.
“It’s nine seasons in, eight years old, it’s come an incredibly long way in a very short period of time,” he said.
“The opportunity that’s there, and it’s not going to happen overnight, but if we continue investing in that competition, I think the growth there is enormous.”
Dillon pledged the return of US combines in order to surface more American talent such as Collingwood ruck Mason Cox, and he said although the game’s focus was currently on opportunities in Queensland and New South Wales, his organisation was also looking overseas for growth.
“We’re not closed off to opportunities internationally, and we’re looking at how we interact with particularly the US market and the Indian market there too, where we think there’s opportunities for us to grow in those markets, but also bring something back from there into Australia,” he said.
A return of State of Origin or an expanded All Stars series was also flagged. The most recent Origin match was held in 2020 to raise funds for bushfire relief.
“The players being invested is what’s really important, so the conversations that we’re having now with our playing group is a representative footy concept, whether it’s State of Origin, whether it’s an All Stars, but the State of Origin is the thing that seems to grip people,” he said.
“It’s if the players want it, I think there’s an appetite for the fans.”
Dillon said he was continuing to speak with the AFL Players Association over the development of a new illicit drugs policy but that he wanted a “strengthened” policy. “We’ll be patient in that, but we want to finalise that with the Players’ Association. It’s a key focus for us, and I think as it is for the Players’ Association.”
