The AFL has today advised clubs of the proposed AFLW List Rules for expansion clubs ahead of the 2023 NAB AFL Women’s season, with the final AFLW List Rules to be circulated to clubs in 2022.
 
To ensure long term sustainability and competitive balance for the NAB AFL Women’s Competition, the four expansion clubs will be able to access players through the following mechanisms:

Open-age Signing: Expansion Clubs may sign any player who has previously nominated for the draft and is not a listed player with any AFLW Club.

Under 18 Talent: Expansion Clubs may sign under 18 talent from their NGA region prior to the draft. There will be a limit on the number of players per Expansion Club who can be signed by this mechanism.

Expansion Signing Period: The Expansion Signing Period will be held prior to the Sign and Trade Period. During the Expansion Signing Period, expansion Clubs may sign players who are currently listed with an AFLW Club. Each expansion Club can sign up to a maximum of 14 AFLW listed players.

Sign & Trade Period: The Sign & Trade Period will be held following the Expansion Signing Period. The expansion Clubs will not be permitted to trade players who they have signed under one of the mechanisms outlined at 1 - 3 above.

NAB AFLW Draft:  A state-based draft will be held following the Sign & Trade Period. The expansion Clubs will receive the first eight picks. The order of the expansion clubs will be based on random selection. For the remainder of the picks, the draft order will be based on existing clubs’ 2022 finishing positions with the expansion Clubs then added to the end of each round. The final draft order may be affected as a result of the Expansion Signing Period and will be finalised ahead of the 2022 NAB AFLW Draft.