Former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has pealed back the curtain on the unorthodox way the AFLW was launched back in 2016.
Speaking on the AFLW Inside Out podcast, McLachlan said the decision to launch the breakthrough league was done without the normal protocols.
"I just got up and announced it at a speech (that) we're going to do a women's league... I got myself in a bit of trouble for all of that, but it was something like that without a business case, no plan, nothing had gone to the commission... No commission (approval), I just got up and sort of did it," McLachlan said.
The first season of the AFLW was in 2017, with eight teams made up of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Carlton, Fremantle, Collingwood, Western Bulldogs and GWS fighting for the inaugural flag.
Adelaide was eventually crowned champions and the league has grown in its number of teams since.
Six years later, the AFLW drew level with the AFL on 18 teams.
Some criticism has come at the league for overreaching with the number of teams and diluting the talent pool for the decade old competition.
"One hundred per cent the decision to expand quickly is on me," McLachlan said.
"The only way you get to a conclusion that it's the wrong decision is if you judge the success of AFLW based on the standard of the football on the field and the depth of talent... If the standard goes to six or seven out of 10 at 18 teams, so what? The talent will come."
McLachlan also added that he believes the women's league has helped grow both male and community football since its inception.
"Since AFLW came in 2017, every men's season except for COVID has broken the male attendance record," he said.
"If you look at the health of football in the men's competition and in community football, AFLW has been the influence to bring them back into rude health."
