Crows AFLW Senior Coach Matthew Clarke has given his thoughts on the proposed August start date for the competition.
It comes as the AFL considers starting the next AFLW season during the post home-and-away season bye of the men’s competition.
Fresh off claiming a second consecutive Minor Premiership, Clarke, whose side will now enjoy a bye before heading into another finals campaign, said the move could certainly work.
“I’m an advocate for giving it free air wherever possible,” Clarke said.
“If that becomes the move, it can work.
“The turnaround time will certainly be quick, but if the competition comes to a long-term position of ‘this is where want it to be’, then the sooner we do it the better.”
Adelaide defeated St Kilda by 39 points on Sunday to claim top spot on the AFLW ladder.
With a week off, the Crows will now face the winner of North Melbourne and Fremantle in a preliminary final in Adelaide.
“10 weeks is not a long season, but we’ve certainly got some players who will benefit from having a week off,” Clarke said.
“Any six of them (the teams outside the top two) could win it… it just means two of them will be gone by the time we play.”
Clarke believed the 2022 AFLW competition was tighter than ever.
“Across the year, we haven’t had a single easy game, they’ve all been hard,” he said.
“In the end, I’m just happy to get the outcome and finish where we did.”
