AFLW: How the Women's League Is Built and Where It Is Heading

The CBA That Now Governs AFLW Money

The foundation for these changes is the joint 2023–2027 CBA, which covers the pay and conditions for both AFL and AFLW players. The central number is the Total Player Payment (TPP) per club, which stands at $1,795,148 for 2023 and rises to $1,962,694 in 2024. This figure excludes Additional Services Agreements (ASAs), and the league-wide AFLW Total Player Payments are more than $32.3 million for 2023, according to the AFL Players' Association.

For context, the equivalent TPP for the 18 AFL teams is set at $15,022,778 in 2023 and $18,440,415 in 2027, underlining the structural disparity in the salary caps between the men's and women's competitions.

How AFLW Player Pay Is Structured: Tiers and Caps

Under the CBA, AFLW players are divided into four tiers based on their contract status:

• Tier 1: 2 players, earning $87,192 in 2023 and $95,331 in 2024
• Tier 2: 6 players, earning $71,806 in 2023 and $78,508 in 2024
• Tier 3: 6 players, earning $61,548 in 2023 and $67,292 in 2024
• Tier 4: 16 players, earning $51,290 in 2023 and $56,077 in 2024

These payments are scheduled to continue increasing each year through to 2027.

In addition to their base contracts, AFLW players can also earn through ASAs, which are capped at $100,000 per club in 2023, rising to $135,470 by 2027. From 2025, all player ASA payments, including top earners, fall under this club-level cap.

Illustrating a typical 2025 list, a club has 2 Tier 1 players on $109,760, 6 Tier 2 players on $89,559, 6 Tier 3 players on $76,091, and 16 Tier 4 players on $67,337. All 30 contracted players share the capped ASA payments of $127,693.

List Sizes, Expansion Clubs and Squad Management

In 2023, AFLW clubs signed 30 active players and have been able to temporarily replace players sidelined for the season. Expansion clubs Port Adelaide and Sydney had temporary larger lists in 2023 as part of an assistance package, with Port fielding 33 listed players and Sydney 34. Both list sizes were reduced for 2024, with Port returning to 30 and Sydney to 32. In November 2024 the AFL decided list sizes would remain at 30 despite heavy use of top-up players.

Pathways Into the AFLW: Academies, Drafts and Zones

The AFL has established a network of academies and talent pathways to feed young players into the AFLW competition. The NAB AFLW Academy identifies elite under-18 players from across the country, providing them with training and development opportunities as they progress towards becoming affermed AFLW players.

The AFLW Draft Handbook outlines a Northern Academy rule, which allows a club to nominate a player if she is a member of that club’s northern academy and has been domiciled in that zone for a continuous period.

Expansion clubs have an additional path to bring in talented young players: the U18 Talent Pathway Pre-Signing Period. This allows Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, and Sydney to sign under-18 players from their academies or academy zones prior to the AFLW Draft.

Club-based girls' academies are also part of the system. For example, the Adelaide Football Club's Bridgestone Crows Academies Next Generation Academy (NGA) Girls squad in 2023 identifies under-15 girls in the NGA pathway linked to the AFLW program.

What the Economic Framework Signals About AFLW’s Direction

The 2023–2027 CBA has set a clear trajectory for AFLW player pay, with incremental increases in average wages, ASAs now set to rise each year, expansion assistance list concessions that proved temporary rather than a permanent shift in the competition structure.

Even as aspects of the expansion package have tapered off, the competition has maintained its athlete pathways: the NAB AFLW Academy, the Northern Academy rule, and the expansion club pre-signing period all indicate a commitment to building a sustainable, codified talent pipeline.

Structurally, the league is likely to stay the course on 30-player lists, with the AFL deliberating the matter but holding firm in 2024. The documented tier structure, ASA caps, and progressive pay trajectory are the most certain guides to where the league is heading, short of projecting future reforms beyond those that are already scheduled.

Because the basis of this article is the collective bargaining agreement, the pay scale is clear. The average AFLW player weekly pay in 2024 is estimated at $1,294, with the tiered salaries ranging from $2,146 per week (tier 1, top 2 players) to $1,078 (tier 4, bottom 16). Under the values calculated above, only those in the top 2 earn more than $250,000 for the season. Any suggestion that more than 20% of the AFLW earn a total of $300,000 in a season would be an outright fiction against what's in the CBA itself[1].