The Deakin University Female Football League (DUFFL) will feature more rounds in 2018 with the addition of four new teams.
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Cobden, Harrow-Balmoral, Port Fairy and Timboon Demons Port Fairy will join the eight foundation teams which played in the league’s inaugural season this year.
The Stawell Warriors were one of those eight teams, with the introduction of a girls football side embraced by the local community.
The Warriors finished sixth in 2017 with a cast of players who had never played football before.
Stawell officially started its training for the 2018 season on Wednesday night.
With one full season under their belts, Warriors coach Andrew Bach said he hopes to see his team to continue improving.
“Our goal is to just keep getting better,” he said.
“We had an alright turnout for the first training session and we are hoping we can get some new girls coming along and giving the sport a go as well. “At the moment it is tough for the girls with a lot of other commitments going on, but we expect to get more and more turn up in the coming weeks.”
After a forum with all new and existing clubs, the DUFFL has been expanded to 11 home and away rounds and one finals game, an increase of four matches on the seven home and away and one finals matches in 2017.
It would work out that teams will face off once against each other and then play one finals match dependent on their ladder position, the same as the 2017 format.
Bach said the forum was a good way to evaluate how the 2017 season unfolded.
“All the clubs had a chat about what we thought worked and didn’t work,” he said. “From this open conversation we all saw the first season of the league as a great success, and introducing more teams became a priority.
“It was also discussed about the rules of the game and the umpiring to see if we needed to change anything.”
AFL Wimmera-Mallee development manager Jason Muldoon said it is an exciting prospect to have the competition grow so quickly.
“We probably put our hand up and admit we didn’t expect the league to grow as quickly as it did,” he said.
“To bring four more teams in after 12 months is fantastic.
“The growth of the league probably aligns with the growth of female football across the country. It blows you away a bit when it is happening in your own backyard.”
The 2018 DUFFL season is set to begin on Sunday, April 15.