After an AFLW Competition Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the AFL have announced that multiple new rules and variations of existing ones will be trialled in the coming weeks, at both VFL Women’s and Under-18 level.

The rules set to be trialled are:

• Kick-ins from an extended goal square

• Boundary umpire throw-ins to be brought in 10 metres

• A legal kick to be reduced from 15 metres to 10 metres

• Last disposal awarded between the 50m arcs

The four rule changes will be tested during the Round 15 VFL Women’s match between Essendon and Williamstown on Saturday 18^th August, as well as the 2018 NAB AFLW Under-18 Exhibition Match, on Friday 31^st August.

Western Bulldogs Women’s Football General Manager and AFLW Competition Committee member, Debbie Lee said that the rule trials are in line with the best interests of the game.

“We want to continue to improve the AFL Women’s competition, which means that potential alterations are an integral part of the conversation,” said Lee.

“With the competition so young, it’s really important to strive for improvement to ensure that the game continues to grow.

“We already have a unique set of rules for the women’s game, which allows our players to play a different brand of football.  These rule changes will assist with the free-flowing nature of the game and allow the players to continue to produce their own style of football.”

The AFL Women’s competition holds a unique set of rules, including the size four football, 16 players a side and the ‘last touch’ rule.

The decision to alter AFLW rules will be made by the AFL Commission before the AFLW teams commence preseason training in November.