Former Australian netball captain Sharelle McMahon has joined the AFL Women's match review panel for its inaugural season, which starts on Friday night.

Amid all the uncertainty of what is about to happen, seeing the AFL Women's premiership cup was a potent reminder for Melbourne captain Daisy Pearce.

It was only a practice match, but that didn't matter to Meg Hutchins.

• COMMENT

The inaugural AFLW season begins on Friday, and I am pretty excited. But I'm also nervous, because there are people just waiting to tear this competition down.

Katie Brennan, still pained by an ankle injury, is adamant she will not miss captaining the Western Bulldogs in their landmark first women's league game, even if she needs assistance to run out. 

AFL Women's captains are tipping the Western Bulldogs to match their men's team by taking out the premiership, while Melbourne's Daisy Pearce is favoured to win the inaugural best and fairest.

The most coveted prizes in the AFL women's league may remain unnamed for years with the code resolving trailblazer footballers in the new competition, starting Friday, should inform the major decisions by writing their own history.

• EXCLUSIVE

Fairfax Media columnist Daisy Pearce makes her writing debut ahead of the opening AFLW round.

If there was going to be a first bounce in Friday night's historic AFLW opening at Ikon Park, Annie Mirabile wouldn't want it.

The historic first AFL women's league match will feature a countdown with Carlton and Collingwood footballers running through handpicked guards of honour before play starts.

Carlton's female AFL stars are confident the competition will deliver enough fireworks to keep fans coming back for more.

The AFLW season is set to commence without clubs knowing the rules surrounding post-season list management.

For all of her wonderful achievements as an Olympic basketballer, world championship glory and stardom on the American scene, Erin Phillips says she is incredibly nervous about running onto a relatively obscure ground called Thebarton Oval against the GWS Giants on Saturday.

Like anything associated with Collingwood, expectations are high. And that's no different for their fledgling women's team, even though an official match has yet to be played.

Full-time doctor and part-time AFL footballer Tiarna Ernst has admitted she stands to lose financially by committing to her sporting dream more seriously in the new, semi-professional women's league.

Doctor Tiarna Ernst is on the phone.  From the kitchen table in her share house, she's arranging for the sheds of her local footy ground to be unlocked and opened.

15 years ago Penny Cula-Reid fought a court action to be allowed to continue playing football with boys. Next week she will play for Collingwood in the opening match of the AFL Women's competition.

The AFL's decision to shift next week's women's league opener to a bigger venue is unlikely to mean men's games will also be moved to deal with capacity issues.

The AFL are seriously considering moving the women's season opener between Carlton and Collingwood from Olympic Park to the Blues' famed home Princes Park.

Emma Kearney isn't sure she'll get much sleep on Friday night but says that won't matter if her Melbourne Stars can clinch a place in the Women's Big Bash League finals.

With only eight teams taking part in the upcoming AFLW season, many footy fans are going to have to pick a new team to support. But don't panic - we're here to help. By answering a few brief questions, you can find out just who to back in the 2017 season.

It's a brave new world for the AFL, but it's likely to start in a very old-fashioned way.

Former Canberra Capital Jess Bibby is the "wise, old head" that's played two games.

A midfielder nicknamed "Juddy" has been appointed captain of Fremantle for their inaugural AFLW season, with Kara Donnellan handed the responsibility of spearheading the franchise's premiership hopes.

Fairfax Media's top 10 people of the football year aren't necessarily the most popular, or the most successful, but each left a sizeable imprint on the game's landscape in the past 12 months.

Three of the greatest players of their generations will be part of The Age's footy coverage in 2017.

The Outer Sanctum, the unconventional footy podcast that broke one of the biggest stories in the game this year, has struck a partnership with The Age for the historic first AFL Women's season. 

Fox Sports announced on Monday that experienced and revered sports broadcaster Kelli Underwood would spearhead its commentary team for the inaugural AFL Women's competition. The term "comeback" was bandied around after that disclosure.

Canberra United's code-hoppers Ellie Brush and Jenna McCormick might square off in opening round.