AFLW salaries set to almost double next season

AFLW players have secured a 94% pay increase in a deal hailed as "a giant step forward" for the fast-growing league.

In a one-year collective bargaining agreement struck by the AFL and the players' association, athletes across all levels of the women's game will receive a significant boost in salary. Those at top-tier clubs will now get $71,935 a season, up from $37,155, with that figure expected to inflate to over $100,000 for select players when other allowances are added.

The minimum wage also increased 94% to $39,184.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the deal provided certainty for players and clubs and reflected the continued growth of the sport.

"The agreement represents a landmark improvement in pay for AFLW players and a historic level of investment in domestic women's sport," he said.

"It is a giant step forward in achieving our vision of ensuring AFLW players are the best-paid female athletes in any local professional competition by 2030."

While men have been playing Australian Rules for around 160 years, women only got their own league in 2017.

It followed high viewing figures for a televised exhibition game that prompted administrators to bring forward the launch of a national competition for women by four years.

Since then the AFLW has gone from strength to strength, with four new clubs set to enter next season, making it an 18-team competition when play gets under way in late August.