2022 AFL Women's season 7

In August 2021, , , and – the four Australian Football League (AFL) clubs yet to receive an AFLW licence at the time – were granted licences to join the AFL Women's competition in what was then slated to be a 2022–23 season, meaning all 18 clubs would have an AFLW team for the first time. In May 2022, a one-year bridging collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was announced which would see the competition's seventh season begin during the AFL pre-finals bye in the last weekend of August and conclude with the grand final in the last weekend of November. The season 7 fixture was announced in early July. Match times on Saturdays in September (except 24 September, the date of the AFL Grand Final) were floating to maximise doubleheader opportunities, and the final round was released as a floating fixture to be determined later in the season. Livingstone said that the AFL would consider moving more matches to larger venues depending on ticket sales; the round 2 match between and was moved to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to act as a curtain raiser to the AFL qualifying final between and . Season 7's Indigenous Round was launched in early September, and was played across rounds 3 and 4. The round is held to acknowledge the significant contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls to Australian football and the broader community. Pride Round, which was played in round 8, was launched in early October. The round is held "to promote and support diversity and inclusion of LGBTQI+ communities and families, and acknowledges the AFL's journey to being a more inclusive sport"; this season's iteration also celebrated allies of LGBTQI+ people within the sport. The season began on 25 August with a match between and and concluded on 27 November with the 2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final, contested by and Melbourne. The season featured ten home-and-away rounds, the same as the previous season, and a four-week finals series, up from three weeks the previous season; the finals were contested by the top eight teams, up from six the previous season, and the finals system was the same as the AFL's. Melbourne won its first AFL Women's premiership, defeating Brisbane by four points in the grand final, played at Brighton Homes Arena. ==Coach appointments==

All starting times are local time. Sources: womens.afl (fixture and results), Australian Football (crowd figures) Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 ==Ladder==

Source: Australian Football ==Home matches and membership==

The following table includes all home match attendance figures from the home-and-away season. Source: Australian Football ==Finals series==

All starting times are local time. Sources: womens.afl (fixture and results), Australian Football (crowd figures) Finals week 1 Finals week 2 Finals week 3 Grand final ==Win–loss table==

The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Home matches are in bold, and opponents are listed above the margins. Source: Australian Football ==Season notes==

• Brisbane kicked 33 goals across the first three rounds of the season, an AFLW record, and became the first AFLW team to score more than 200 points across the first three rounds of a season. • Four teams recorded scores of 0.1 (1), the lowest score in AFLW history, during the season: Fremantle in round 2 against Geelong, Greater Western Sydney in round 5 against Adelaide, and West Coast in round 10 against Melbourne. • Brisbane won the minor premiership by the closest practical margin, finishing above Melbourne on the ladder by 0.3 percentage points; had Melbourne scored just one more point during the season, it would have won the minor premiership. ==Coach departures==

Major awards • The AFL Women's Grand Final best-on-ground medal was awarded to 's Shannon Campbell, who became the first player to win the award in a losing team. • The AFL Women's best and fairest was awarded to Brisbane's Ally Anderson. • The AFLPA most valuable player was awarded to 's Monique Conti; captain Chelsea Randall was voted as best captain and most courageous player, while Richmond's Eilish Sheerin was voted as best first-year player. • The AFLCA AFLW champion player of the year was awarded to 's Jasmine Garner; Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich was voted as coach of the year. • The AFL Women's All-Australian team was announced on 22 November; Garner was named captain, while Brisbane captain Breanna Koenen was named vice-captain. North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney was selected for the seventh consecutive season. • The AFL Women's leading goalkicker was awarded to Brisbane's Jesse Wardlaw. • The AFL Women's Rising Star was awarded to 's Hannah Ewings. • The Goal of the Year was awarded to 's Ashanti Bush. • The Mark of the Year was awarded to 's Chloe Scheer. Leading goalkickers Source: Australian Football Club best and fairest ==See also==