Twenty one teams will compete in the second season of the Northern Football League’s women competition.
After having two divisions last season, the competition has expanded to three competition with a number of new teams entering.
There will be seven teams in each division, with the season to start on April 8.
The season will be 14 rounds, with each division to have a top five finals series.
Keilor, which won the combined Essendon District and Western Region Football League competition last season, will field a side in the NFL competition.
The Blues will also field a side in the standalone Essendon District Football League competition, with a mix of new and old players in both sides.
They’ll be joined in the top division by Bendigo Thunder, Darebin, Pascoe Vale, Diamond Creek women’s, VU Western Spurs and Whitehorse, which were all in division 1 last season.
La Trobe University, which had two teams last season, will field their top spot in division 2 after claiming the division 1 wooden spoon last season.
Joining them in division 2 is Laurimar, South Morang, VU Western Spurs, West Preston-Lakeside, Montmorency and Darebin which were all in that division last year.
The third division will consist mostly of new sides.
Bundoora, Eltham, Greensborough, Mernda and St Mary’s will all field a women’s team for the first time this year.
VU Spurs will also field a team in division, making them the only club to have teams in every grade. La Trobe University’s second side will also compete in division 3.
Meanwhile, Chyloe Kurdas has been appointed the league’s inaugural senior women’s representative coach.
Kurdas has long been involved in football having served as AFL Victoria’s female development manager for a decade and assisted in the establishment of the AFL’s National Female Academy.
She’s also been a commentator for AFLW matches the last two season and played more than 150 games for Melbourne University.
Last year she guided the NFNL’s Under-15 girls to the AFL Victoria Metro Junior Championships Division 1 premiership.
This will be the first time the league has had a senior women’s representative side. They will face AFL South East.
