The AFL Darling Downs U17 Youth Girls competition will undergo a number of changes in 2021, which is set to inject new opportunities into the key age group of the regions female pathway.
This will see the competition shift to Term 1 based season, with a compact 6-8 week program scheduled to kick off in mid-February. This see’s the competition align to the AFL Women’s season for the first time, which is due to kick off in early February.
A new look 2021 season will also see a shift from a Friday night competition, to Sunday morning based fixtures, aiming to allow more opportunities for those players and clubs based outside of Toowoomba to participate.
The changes come on the back of a review into regions top age youth competitions as part of AFL Queensland’s priorities to develop and maintain the region’s pathways from youth to senior football.
This year saw former U17 youth girls participants Tiarna Jericho and Phoebe Baird progress to make their QAFLW debut’s this season, with the regions most recent AFLW Draftee Zimmorlei Farquharson also having played in the competition in her pathway to the elite level. The hope is that the new look competition will provide greater opportunities for participation and allow more of the regions female participants to develop their game as they progress from our younger mixed youth age groups to senior women’s football and beyond.
The competition will be run out of a centralised venue, with full competition details to be released in the new year.
Team nominations for the 2021 season are currently open with the competition allowing both schools and local clubs to nominate teams.
For more information or to find your local team, please contact mitchell.simpson@afl.com.au
