The new Crows women’s AFL team will need to find players, coaches and staff in the next four months.
Crows Head of Football David Noble said the partnership with AFLNT had prepared well for next year but there would now be a flurry of activity.
“Before you know it, it will be October, we’ll be into pre-season and we will have our list compiled,” Noble said in Sunday’s episode of The Crows Show.
“Between now and when we start we have some clear strategies in place working with the SANFL and the State teams here and the NT as to what we want to do.
“Our immediate challenge in the next month or six weeks will be coaching structure, staff, administration, and welfare in particular will be important.”
The Crows must nominate five potential marquee players by the end of June as the first step in forming a squad for the new AFL women’s league.
Each of the eight teams involved in the inaugural competition will be allocated two marquee players by the AFL and then the rest of the squads will be filled with 20 draftees and three free agents, who either missed out on being drafted or are non-registered players from other sports.
The teams are also expected to have development squads.
Football staff from both the NT and Crows have had close contact with potential players for several months.
More than 60 women were involved in the All Stars training sessions from February leading into the All Stars game at Adelaide Oval in early April.
An SA team then played the Northern Territory last month as preparation for an official AFL exhibition game against NSW/ACT two weeks ago.
Noble expects the new AFL women’s league to capture the interest of many supporters.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “By the time we can get the girls on the paddock, improve some skill sets, put them through some pre-season and get them fit, I think it will be a league that will be closely followed.”
Noble said it was also important to develop the junior pathways and academies.
“A lot of the girls come through playing football through school up until 11, 12, 13,” he said. “Now they’ve got a connected pathway that they can actually go to the national competition.
“We think that we can now compete with all the other elite sports across the country.”
The women’s draft is expected to be held in early October.
The eight-week competition will begin in early February and will include standalone matches and games integrated into the NAB Challenge fixture.
The Crows want to play home games in both Adelaide and the Northern Territory.
Adelaide’s joint bid with AFLNT was one of eight named to be a foundation member in the 2017 national women’s competition.
The eight-team league is made up of four Victorian teams – Collingwood, Carlton, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs – plus the Crows, Brisbane, Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle.
