An expanded AFLW season is on the horizon as the league looks to capitalise on a bumper inaugural season according to AFL football operations boss Simon Lethlean.
The eight-team competition has been a roaring success, with Adelaide crowned the first-ever premiers after defeating Brisbane on Saturday, and Lethlean has told SEN Breakfast that the introduction of a finals series is being considered.
"I think it was a great success," Lethlean said.
"I think lots of the decisions we made turned out pretty well for season one, I think it is worth looking at a top four because it does keep some teams in the equation.
"Melbourne were playing great footy this season and probably deserved to be in the finals, yet didn't make the grand final."
Lethlean said that while no decision has been made on what next year’s competition format looks like, there are a few other factors than need to be taken into consideration beforehand.
"We are a little bit constrained about when we can start and finish if we want to have, in my view, the right exposure for the competition," he said.
"I don't think we want to go too far into the men's competition and find ourselves up against venue issues and broadcast and exposure issues when we've got nine games (a round) happening (in the AFL)."
St Kilda and Geelong both hold provisional licenses and are pushing strongly to enter the competition as early as next year, but Lethlean signalled that any additional clubs are unlikely for 2018.
"We're concentrating at the moment on list sizes and delisting rules and trade periods and stuff that shows that this competition now is pretty serious," he said.
Elsewhere, Lethlean addressed questions over the scuffle between Fremantle and Geelong players that saw players up against the fence and extremely close to the crowd.
“The MRP had a good look at that vision. It wasn’t a great look and Walters and McCarthy and Tuohy have been fined accordingly for their roles in the melee,” he said.
“As part of the fining process, there was also some serious discussion with clubs about the roles players have to play in these situations, especially in regards to safety with arena fencing and things like that.
“Fortunately the crowd were well behaved in that scenario too because it took the play pretty close to them.
“It was certainly a concern but one we have dealt with by way of a sanction and a conversation with both of the clubs.”