The 2026 AFLW season starts on Sunday, with St Kilda and Carlton at Marvel Stadium at 4.35pm AEST. The same two clubs play their AFL round 22 match at the same ground at 7.20pm. It is the first time both competitions have been part of Spud's Game.

Spud's Game is the AFL's mental health fixture, named for former St Kilda captain Danny Frawley, and it has run as a men's match. This year the AFLW season opener sits in front of it.

Eighteen clubs play 12 home and away rounds, then a four week finals series. The grand final is on the last weekend of November.

The rest of round one runs the following week, opening with Hawthorn and Melbourne at IKON Park on the Thursday night. Saturday 15 August has Richmond and Collingwood at IKON Park at 5.05pm AEST, Gold Coast and the Western Bulldogs at People First Stadium at 7.15pm, and North Melbourne and Geelong at Marvel Stadium at 1.00pm. Sunday 16 August has Adelaide and Sydney at Unley Oval at 12.05pm ACST, Fremantle and Port Adelaide at Cockburn ARC Oval at 12.35pm AWST, and Greater Western Sydney and West Coast at ENGIE Stadium at 4.45pm AEST.

Most of those times are not the ones originally published. The AFL confirmed changes to the start times of nine matches and to the broadcaster on four across the first two AFLW rounds.

“The changes have been made to minimise overlap between AFLW and AFL matches during the season crossover period and give fans the opportunity to watch both their AFLW and AFL teams play," the AFL said. Josh Bowler, its head of strategy and scheduling, said the fixture had been adjusted to cut overlap where possible.”

The sequence is worth noting. The AFLW times and broadcasters were reset after the men's round 23 and 24 fixtures were confirmed, not before. All four AFL and AFLW double-headers scheduled this year fall in the opening two AFLW rounds, the window in which the two competitions are chasing the same broadcast slots.

Round two carries its own changes. The Western Bulldogs and Richmond move to 2.05pm AEST at Mission Whitten Oval on Saturday 22 August, West Coast and Gold Coast shift from Sunday to Saturday at Mineral Resources Park, and Geelong and St Kilda move to 5.00pm at GMHBA Stadium. Collingwood and Fremantle switch broadcasters for their Sunday match at Victoria Park.

St Kilda and Carlton have five days. First bounce at Marvel Stadium is 4.35pm AEST on Sunday.