Women’s football chief defends AFLW expansion

Head of Women’s Football Nicole Livingstone has defended the rapid expansion of AFLW.

The eight-team league launched in 2016 but will grow to 14 teams in time for the 2020 edition of the burgeoning competition.

North Melbourne and Geelong will join the league in 2019, while Gold Coast, West Coast, Richmond and St Kilda will debut in 2020.

Livingstone said she felt “comfortable” with six new teams entering the competition over the next two years.

“It all has to start from somewhere,” she said.

“We haven’t really had the visible pathways other sports have had (historically) but we do have them now.

“I think the talent development coming through is going to continue in the next five to 10 years.”

Sportsday co-host Shane McInnes earlier questioned whether the talent pool had increased enough to meet the demand of extra teams.

“For the competition to expand by 75 per cent in two years, it does seem a little rushed,” he said.

Click PLAY to hear the full interview with Nicole Livingstone