• EXCLUSIVE

AFLW players could face penalties for illicit drug use from next year.

Ellie Brush is juggling two football codes at the moment, but the chance to become professional would see her commit to one.

• ANALYSIS

The most famous club in the game is winless approaching the halfway mark of the season, and its superstar has barely fired a shot.

Modernism came to Australian art not via some testosterone-fueled burst of creativity but by an acutely observed painting of a woman knitting a sock.

A 60-metre bomb from captain Erin Phillips has given Adelaide a three point come-from-behind win over Carlton in Sunday's AFL Women's game.

Adelaide emerged triumphant from an arm-wrestle with Carlton on Sunday to join Brisbane on top of the AFLW ladder.

By Adrian Warren

Former Australian representative sprinter Kate McCarthy kicked arguably the goal of the AFL Women's competition so far, with Brisbane maintaining their unbeaten record in a nailbiting four-point win over Collingwood.

Flag favourites two weeks ago after beating Fremantle at the same venue, the Western Bulldogs' hopes of winning the first AFLW premiership are in tatters after they were beaten by Melbourne at the Whitten Oval on Saturday night.

Follow our match tracker for the action from this clash clash between the undefeated Blues and Crows.

• Live

Follow the scores and stats as the closest thing to a traditional AFLW rivalry flares at the Whitten Oval.

• Live

Follow the scores and stats as Brisbane aim for back-to-back wins against a Collingwood outfit yet to taste victory.

Intent that Katie Brennan's season should not be finished by the injury sidelining her in round three, the Western Bulldogs' top medicos have been deployed on the female skipper's ankle.

AFL gave away the broadcast rights for free to Channel Seven and Foxtel on a two-year goodwill agreement.

Unprecedented brain monitoring piloted in the AFLW to deepen the code's understanding of concussion is extending into the elite men's competition, with Collingwood, Essendon and Melbourne agreeing to participate in pre-season games.

The women's revolution that has engulfed the AFL over the summer has broken another barrier with the appointment of Emma Quayle as the game's first female club recruiter.

Ins and outs for this weekend's AFL Women's matches.

A club push for AFLW lists to expand – one side has proposed jumping from 27 to 40 – comes with the current cap proving problematic just two weeks into season one.

To set the scene, it's 3.16am on Sunday, I've got my foot in a bucket of ice at the kitchen table and after trying all my tricks for trying to get to sleep (eat, meditate, stretch, read book, repeat) I've decided to put the post-match buzz to good use and get some words down. These night games are a killer! 

Early on Tuesday, Melbourne women's team captain Daisy Pearce posted a message on Twitter. Shortly after, the number of Mithen's follower's began to tick upwards. It was a timely example of the power of social media, the Demons star congratulating  Mithen's Rising Star nomination.

Cricket's Big Bash League flogs them. In the A-League, they prove to be among the highlights of each season. And they were once a mainstay of the National Basketball League in Melbourne.

World silver medallist Kim Mickle's AFL dream was satisfied when she ran out for Fremantle at the weekend. But the dream has come at a cost with two sports now counting the cost of injury.  

Luckless Fremantle player Kim Mickle will miss the rest of the AFL Women's season after scans confirmed she ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament during her Dockers debut.

Melbourne's women's team has suffered a double blow with Meg Downie and Stephanie De Bortoli both ruled out for the rest of the season.

Brisbane Lions key position player Tayla Harris and Melbourne midfielder Lily Mithen are the round two nominations for the AFL Women's Rising Star award.

Collingwood's Sophie Casey can accept a two-match ban for a high hit that sent Melbourne's Meg Downie to hospital, while Carlton star Brianna Davey is free to face Adelaide in Sunday's top of the ladder clash.

Melbourne's Meg Downie has been released from hospital without any serious damage after being knocked out in a clash with Collingwood's Sophie Casey Casey at Ikon Park on Saturday night.

Brisbane remain unbeaten in the AFLW after resisting a late Fremantle surge to take a 13-point win at Fremantle Oval.

They might be unbeaten after two rounds and playing at a club starved of success over the past two decades, but Carlton's women aren't feeling any extra pressure because of their hot start to the season, says star defender Brianna Davey.