AFL Women's Under-18 Championships

The NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships are the annual national Australian rules football championships for women players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the professional AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Originally known as the AFL Youth Girls National Championship, the competition has teams of players representing their states and territories in a round robin tournament. The tournament is currently sponsored by the National Australia Bank. The winner of the 2019 tournament was Vic Metro.

AFL Women's Under-18 Championships
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2021 AFL Women's Under 19 Championships
FormerlyAFL Youth Girls National Championship
SportAustralian rules football
Inaugural season2010
AdministratorAustralian Football League
No. of teams10
CountryAustralia
Most recent
champion(s)		Vic Metro
(2019)
Sponsor(s)National Australia Bank
Related
competitions		AFL Under 18 Championships
Tournament formatRound-robin

History

A 2008 series between the Queensland and Victoria teams was the predecessor to a national state-based competition for young female footballers. The inaugural competition was conducted in September 2010, in Craigieburn, Victoria. Six teams competed: Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, a combined New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory side (NSW/ACT), and two Victorian squads. These were divided into two pools—first: an AFL Victoria Development squad combined with an East section, which consisted of NSW/ACT and Queensland players; and West, made up of players from South Australia, Western Australia, and Victoria. Teams played three regular games against the sides from the opposite pool before a finals series.[1]

Several team changes occurred in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, the Victorian team was split into Victoria Metro and Victoria Country.[2] A combined Northern Territory–Tasmania team known as the Thunder Devils and an Indigenous Australian side called the Woomeras entered the tournament in 2014.[3][4] In 2021 the Woomeras were joined by the Medleys, a multicultural under-17 representative program.[5]

AFL Women's, a national women's league which was inaugurated in 2017, allowed the championships to become a formalised pathway competition to the national league.[6] Consequently the name of the competition was changed to AFL Women's Under 18 Championships, having previously been known as the AFL Under 18 Youth Girls Championships. Changes were also made to tournament structure. The tournament was played over two rounds; in the first round, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory played in a separate division. The best players from the states combined to form an Allies team, which competed in the second round against the other states (the Woomeras did not compete).[7] In 2018, a similar Eastern Allies team was established (made up of NSW/ACT and Tasmania players), bringing the total number of teams to 10.[8][9]

There was no championships staged in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the 2021 tournament to have an increased age eligibility by one year (under-19).[10][11]

Tournaments
YearDivision 1 PremiersD1 B&FDivision 2 PremiersD2 B&F NotesRef.
2010Victoria (state) VictoriaKatie Brennan (Queensland)NoneNone [12]
2011Victoria (state) VictoriaEllie Blackburn (Victoria)NoneNone [12]
2012Victoria (state) Vic MetroCaitlin Williams (South Australia)NoneNone [12]
2013Victoria (state) Vic MetroEllie Blackburn (Vic Metro)NoneNone [13]
2014Western Australia Western AustraliaHayley Miller (Western Australia)Northern Territory WoomerasDanielle Ponter (Thunder Devils) [14]
2015Victoria (state) Vic MetroTayla Harris (Queensland)South Australia South AustraliaSarah Allan (South Australia) [15]
2016 Victoria (state) Vic Metro Courtney Hodder (Western Australia) New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory NSW/ACT Lizzie Stokely (Tasmania)
Daria Bannister (Tasmania) [16]
2017Victoria (state) Vic CountryMadison Prespakis (Vic Metro)NoneNone [17]
2018 Victoria (state) Vic Country Madison Prespakis (Vic Metro) None None [18]
Nina Morrison (Vic Country)
2019Victoria (state) Vic MetroGeorgia Patrikios (Vic Metro)NoneNone [19]
2020DNP (COVID-19)– [10]
2021None (COVID-19)NoneNoneNone A series of challenge matches were played, but there was no winner declared

Source: List of Winners (pp. 4)

See also

References
  1. "About the U18 AFL Youth Girls National Championships". AFL Community. SportsTG. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. "Youth Girls Vic Metro & Vic Country Restructure". aflvic.com.au. AFL Victoria. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. "AFL Youth Girls National Championships 2014 Record" (PDF). Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. Flanders, Kris (18 May 2016). "These Indigenous girls are the future stars of AFL". SBS Online. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  5. "U19s preview: Fixture, star players, how to stream, more". womens.afl. 11 April 2021.
  6. Lusted, Peter (3 May 2016). "Professional AFL contracts up for grabs at Youth Girls National Championships". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  7. "Women's Under-18 Championships kick off in Adelaide". AFL.com.au. Telstra Media. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  8. Arnold, Caitlin (7 June 2018). "Eastern Allies squad announced for upcoming 2018 NAB AFL Women's Under-18s Champs". aflnswact.com.au. AFL NSW/ACT. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  9. "2018 Under 18s Teams". womens.afl. Telstra Media. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  10. Black, Sarah (28 September 2020). "EXPLAINER: How the new-look NAB AFLW Draft will work in 2020". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  11. Sarah Black (11 April 2021). "U19s preview: Fixture, star players, how to stream, more". womens.afl.
  12. "2021 NAB AFLW U19 Championships" (PDF). womens.afl. Australian Football League.
  13. "YOUTH GIRLS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS". AFL Victoria. SportsTG. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  14. "2014 U18 AFL Youth Girls National Championships". Western Australian Womens Football League. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  15. "Girls National Championships decided". AFL Media. Telstra Media. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  16. "2016 AFL Youth Girls National Championships Results". AFL Community. SportsTG. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  17. Black, Sarah (14 July 2017). "AFLW U18 wrap: Vic Country, Allies undefeated". AFL Media. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  18. "2018 NAB AFL Women's U18s Fixture & Results". AFL Women's. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  19. Black, Sarah (12 July 2019). "Patrikios crowned player of the U18 Championships". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
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