Susan Alberti with Bulldog Nicole Callinan after the latest AFLW grand final.
Women's football pioneer Susan Alberti has slammed a proposed six-match AFLW home-and-away season as an insult to all women involved in "the great game of AFL" and instead proposed starting the expanded league earlier.
The 2018 Victorian of the Year and former Western Bulldogs vice-president joined the ranks of prominent women in footy to speak out against reports the league has decided the next AFLW season will remain an eight-week competition, including two weeks of finals.
This, despite the league expanding to 10 teams.
"My first reaction to this, in one world, is: insulting,” Alberti said.
“It’s insulting on the part of all women who aspire to play AFLW, from the Auskick girls to the elite level.
“It’s insulting to all women who aspire to play our great game.
"These women have got families, they're working, they're studying, they're giving up a lot in life and to play six games … if it was me personally, I wouldn't bother."
Former Western Bulldogs vice-president Susan Alberti has slammed a proposed reduction in games in the 2019 AFLW season.
With the introduction of Geelong and North Melbourne to the AFLW, the league is reportedly set to split the competition into two five-team conferences, meaning most teams will play one less home-and-away game than they did in the first two years.
But the businesswoman and philanthropist said AFL executives – led by CEO Gillon McLachlan – would be failing to build on the momentum in women's football if it went ahead with that plan.
"To quote Gil, we've got a revolution going on," Alberti said.
“You cannot turn something around in two years, you’ve got to give it time."
She proposed starting the expanded league three weeks earlier instead, so that it didn't overlap with the AFL men's season.
"I was hoping for nine games, increasing the [home-and-away season] to nine, so that every team gets a chance to play against each other," Alberti said.
"That way we could keep growing the game, and as the women become more and more professional, as we keep investing in their coaching and in the resources they need, you can build from there.
"You've got to be sensible, and nine games would be good, with two finals."
The first two seasons of the AFLW kicked off in February so as not to clash with the Australian Open and to be finished before the men's competition began.
These women … they're giving up a lot in life and to play six games … if it was me personally, I wouldn't bother.
Alberti suggested playing twilight and evening games in January to avoid the worst of the summer heat.
"The girls never complain about the heat, but we've got to look after them," she said.
However the woman who played a pivotal role in creating the AFLW said there was no reason the competition could not eventually overlap with the men's season.
"So what if does?" she said.
"Gone are the days when you said you can't play two games on an AFL oval.
"In fact, it would take us back to the years gone by when you went down to watch the thirds team, the seconds, then the firsts and you made a whole day of it."
Melbourne AFLW champion Daisy Pearce was another to slam the AFL’s proposed plans for the 2019 women’s season, labelling it as a “gimmicky tournament”.
But Alberti struck a measured tone when discussing the powers that be within the AFL, saying boss McLachlan was a "decent bloke" who had been supportive of women's footy "since day dot".
"It's really sad because I didn't think it would come to this," she said.
"I just hope it's all speculation, I hope it's not true, I hope the AFL, in its wisdom, will work around this and it can all happen as it should and we can get on with playing and watching the game we all love."
With Ronny Lerner
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