2017 AFL Women's season
Overview
Date	3 February – 25 March 2017
Teams	8
Premiers	Adelaide 1st premiership
Runners-up	Brisbane 1st runners-up result
Minor premiers	Brisbane 1st minor premiership
Best and fairest	Erin Phillips (Adelaide) 14 votes
Leading goalkicker	Darcy Vescio (Carlton) 14 goals
Attendance
Matches played	29
Total attendance	198,020 (6,828 per match)
Highest	24,568 (round 1,Carlton vCollingwood)
2018 →

The2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of theAFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level seniorwomen's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs. EightAustralian Football League (AFL) clubs featured in the inaugural season:Adelaide,Brisbane,Carlton,Collingwood,Fremantle,Greater Western Sydney,Melbourne and theWestern Bulldogs.

Adelaide won the inauguralpremiership, defeating Brisbane by six points in the2017 AFL Women's Grand Final. Brisbane won theminor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 6–0–1 win–loss–draw record. Adelaide'sErin Phillips won theAFL Women's best and fairest award as the league's best and fairest player, and Carlton'sDarcy Vescio won theAFL Women's leading goalkicker award as the league's leading goalkicker.

Map of the grounds used during the 2017 AFLW season

The full fixture was released on Friday 9 December 2016.^[1][2] Notable features of the draw include:

• Carlton andCollingwood featured in the league's first ever match,^[3] the match was initially scheduled to be held at Collingwood's homeOlympic Park Oval, but was moved in January 2017 to the higher capacityIkon Park due to higher than expected interest.^[4]
• Adelaide, Carlton,Fremantle and theWestern Bulldogs each had four home games, while all other clubs had three.^[5]
• Adelaide,Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle each hosted matches at grounds outside of their home metropolitan area with trips toDarwin,Canberra andMandurah respectively. Fremantle played their home game against Carlton atDomain Stadium, the home ground of the men's team, as part of a double-header which also included anAFL pre-season match between the same two clubs.^[5][6]
• The Western Bulldogs featured in the most free-to-air televised matches (four), Collingwood andMelbourne had three each, Adelaide had two and all other clubs had only one.^[1]
• Many games were played in the late morning and late afternoon to avoid the summer heat, especially inBrisbane andWestern Australia.^[7]
• All starting times are local.

• Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 2.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.

In the absence of a finals series, the two teams who finished the highest on the ladder at the end of the home and away season played in the AFL Women's Grand Final.^[12]Brisbane finished as the minor premiers and secured a spot in the grand final at the end of round six;Adelaide's round seven win overCollingwood saw them secure the second spot in the grand final overMelbourne due to a higher percentage.^[13] It was confirmed in February by AFL Chief Executive Officer,Gillon McLachlan, that the team finishing highest on the ladder at the end of the season would earn the right to host the grand final in their home state.^[14] The match was originally planned to be held atthe Gabba, however due to its ground surface being in a dangerous state, the grand final was moved toMetricon Stadium on theGold Coast as a curtain raiser to theGold Coast versusBrisbane Lions AFL match.^[15]

• Theleague best and fairest was awarded toErin Phillips ofAdelaide, who polled fourteen votes.^[33]
• Theleading goalkicker was awarded toDarcy Vescio ofCarlton, who kicked fourteen goals during the home and away season.^[34]
• TheRising Star was awarded toEbony Marinoff of Adelaide.^[35]
• The best on ground in theAFLW Grand Final was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide.^[36]
• The goal of the year was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide.^[37]
• The mark of the year was awarded to Darcy Vescio of Carlton.^[38]
• The minor premiership was awarded toBrisbane.^[34]
• The wooden spoon was "awarded" toGreater Western Sydney.^[39]
• AFLW Players Association awards^[40]
  • Themost valuable player was awarded to Erin Phillips of Adelaide.
  • The most courageous player was awarded toChelsea Randall of Adelaide.
  • The best captain was awarded toDaisy Pearce ofMelbourne.

• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the season's goal kicking tally at the end of that round.

The final All-Australian team was announced on 28 March. Grand finalistsAdelaide andBrisbane had the most representatives with five each, and every team had at least one representative.^[49]Melbourne captainDaisy Pearce was announced as the All-Australian captain and Adelaide co-captainErin Phillips was announced as the vice-captain.^[50]

In mid-July the AFL announced aState of Origin representative match would be held for AFL Women's players during the AFL season pre-finals bye.^[51] A team of players born in Victoria would play a single exhibition match against a team of players from the rest of Australia atEtihad Stadium on the evening of Saturday 2 September. Initial squads for the match were announced on 25 July including thatMelbourne AFLW football operations managerDebbie Lee would coach Victoria, whileAdelaide premiership coach Bec Goddard, would coach the Allies.^[52]

• 2016 AFL Women's draft

Wikimedia Commons has media related to2017 AFL Women's season.

• Official AFL Women's website

• 2017 AFL Women's season
• AFL Women's seasons
• 2017 in Australian rules football

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Australian English from December 2016
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