The league was launched in February 2017, initially comprising four clubs (Norwood, Glenelg, North Adelaide and West Adelaide) from the men's South Australian National Football League (SANFL).[1] The league now features eight teams, and acts as the second primary competition for South Australian female footballers underneath the semi-professional national AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, as well as being one of the three elite leagues in women's Australian rules football (the VFLW, SANFLW and WAFLW).
The SANFLW initially ran from February to May, meaning it partially overlapped with the AFLW season prior to AFLW Season 7, and so was mostly played by players either not yet drafted by an AFLW club or AFLW listed players not selected for a senior premiership match.
In 2022, the SANFL Commission introduced the SANFL Women's Development League, a seven-week reserves competition providing players from the eight clubs with the opportunity to play at a level beneath the senior competition.[2] The competition was replaced with the SANFL Under-18 Girls competition in 2026, with the eligibility being players turning 15 (minimum age) to 18 (maximum age) in the calendar year of the season and up to four 19-year-olds per team per match, provided they are listed on a senior team list.[3]
Clubs
The first season comprised four SANFL clubs: Norwood, Glenelg, North Adelaide and West Adelaide.[4] The following year, Sturt and South Adelaide were admitted to the competition, with Woodville-West Torrens and Central District being admitted in 2019.[5]
Neither of the state's two AFL clubs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide, who field reserves teams in the SANFL, field teams in the SANFLW; Adelaide were a foundation club of the AFLW in 2017, while Port Adelaide entered the league in 2022.
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