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Non-Crows AFLW Chat 2025

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With the news today that former Carlton captain who took this season off to have a child and Carlton have decided to not offer a contract for next season.

Firstly incredibly disappointing it's happened however the AFLW may have to included a new clause in the contract that if while in contract you take maternity leave you get an extra year added on.

This is a bad look and I know she'll be 34 next season but this bloody reeks. Will some players now put off having children because they fear they won't get another contract when they come back??
 
With the news today that former Carlton captain who took this season off to have a child and Carlton have decided to not offer a contract for next season.

Firstly incredibly disappointing it's happened however the AFLW may have to included a new clause in the contract that if while in contract you take maternity leave you get an extra year added on.

This is a bad look and I know she'll be 34 next season but this bloody reeks. Will some players now put off having children because they fear they won't get another contract when they come back??
It's a bad look and I feel for her.
Unless you're a Daisy Pearce or Kiara Bowers, your job might not be there when you get back. Hooker also made a return to footy after giving birth (around the same age as Peterson) but WCE are terrible so not as hard to fit her into the side.
 
With the news today that former Carlton captain who took this season off to have a child and Carlton have decided to not offer a contract for next season.

Firstly incredibly disappointing it's happened however the AFLW may have to included a new clause in the contract that if while in contract you take maternity leave you get an extra year added on.

This is a bad look and I know she'll be 34 next season but this bloody reeks. Will some players now put off having children because they fear they won't get another contract when they come back??

Age would be a massive factor.

Back in 2019 we had a really good player, Duffin, made the 2019 AA team then she announced she was pregnant in December that year and would miss the 2020 season. It was effectively 714 days between her last game and her first game back after having her child. I think she was only 31 or so when she came back, played that year but she was cooked, ended up joining Hawthorn when they came into the competition, played the first year then retired from footy. Her footy fell off a cliff.

It would be a very difficult decision for clubs to make in terms of their list management.
 

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Duffin was one of my favourite players back in 2019. It was sad to see how far away she fell.

I don't really have a good answer for how to handle this sort of thing. Elite sport is a cutthroat industry, and you can't expect clubs to carry players that are no longer valuable to them. On the other hand, it seems a very short walk to a situation where there is a cultural expectation that you won't get pregnant while under contract.
 
Duffin was one of my favourite players back in 2019. It was sad to see how far away she fell.

I don't really have a good answer for how to handle this sort of thing. Elite sport is a cutthroat industry, and you can't expect clubs to carry players that are no longer valuable to them. On the other hand, it seems a very short walk to a situation where there is a cultural expectation that you won't get pregnant while under contract.
It is difficult, and clubs are trying to run an elite sports program.

I'm sure in time players will understand what scarafices need to be made but AFLW is still relatively new, the players being drafted now are some of the first few who've known of and have had a realistic pathway to the elite system in place.

Certainly will be one to watch in the coming years.

With Tennis we've seen a few players now have children and return but none of them have ever really reached the heights they were at beforehand. I really admire and respect Ash Barty for saying hey I've achieved everything that I've wanted to and earned a boat load of cash so I'm just gonna sail off into the sunset at number 1 in the world to go Start a family, it was so brave and the Australian media didn't really understand at the time and probably still don't as to why you would step away when you are legit the beat in the world.
 

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Non-Crows AFLW Chat 2025

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