The devastating loophole the AFL must immediately close

Imagine celebrating the birth of your first child. You’re in your first few months of motherhood, juggling all the emotional ups and downs. You’re still recovering physically. Plus, you’ve barely slept since the baby’s arrival.

Then your employer calls you in and says you no longer have a job.

It lands like a brutal sledgehammer at the most fragile time, and it has happened twice in the AFLW.

First, to former Carlton captain Kerryn Peterson. Then Fremantle fan favourite Ebony Antonio.

And it happened again this week – with a twist.

When Gold Coast delisted Georgia Clayden, they decided to do it before she had her baby. Clayden – who played 44 consecutive games for the Suns and has been on the inactive list this season while pregnant – is due to give birth in a fortnight. She will do so without a job.

Under the current collective bargaining agreement, AFLW players are entitled to 12 months of paid parental leave, starting six weeks before their due date. Great. So they should be.

But there is a loophole in the system.

Players whose contracts expire during pregnancy or parental leave have no right to a new contract. This is what allowed Carlton, Fremantle and Gold Coast to delist Peterson, Antonio and Clayden.

Add to that loophole a grey area: while the league’s policy states replacement players are allowed during a player’s pregnancy, it’s not so clear when it comes to allowing top-up players on a list, for a new mother who is still on leave.

Peterson, a three-time All-Australian defender and then captain of the club, announced her pregnancy to Carlton at the start of last year. She was celebrated, and hoped to play on – or at least be given the chance to make that decision.

She gave birth to Max in August and in November, two days before the club best and fairest, was told she was being delisted and could announce her retirement at the upcoming function. She was three months postpartum.

It makes for uncomfortable reading.

Let’s look at it from a club perspective – the business case. If Carlton had taken a chance on Peterson, and she had decided she wasn’t ready or didn’t want to play on, they would have risked being short a player for the season.

Instead, the Blues cut her free and took a player in the draft. Peterson was devastated.

Around the same time in Perth, Antonio was being celebrated on Fremantle’s social media channels after announcing her pregnancy.

The All-Australian and best-and-fairest winner had a one-year deal until the end of 2025. She wanted to return and play one more year as a mother. She believed she could do it.

The club disagreed. Two weeks after giving birth to her son Bowie, her manager passed on the news.

When the AFL introduced its pregnancy policy in 2023, it described it as “world-leading”.

But not having the automatic right to get your job back after having a baby is not world-leading. It’s appalling.

There are positive stories of motherhood in AFLW.

Geelong has celebrated the comeback of three mothers in the last five years. Kate Darby, Renee Garing and Chantel Emonson all made successful returns to the footy field after having their first child.

The club has been one of the leaders in this space, setting up a parents room between the men’s and women’s change rooms. It has breastfeeding-specific facilities and the club provides a babysitter for a crèche, on training and game days.

And earlier this year, Essendon asked the league for discretion when it came to their pregnant player Bess Keaney. The AFL granted permission for her to remain on the inactive list after giving birth. She eventually returned to the field following the completion of her postpartum recovery.

These stories should be the rule, not an exception.

Currently, there are six pregnant players in the AFLW. The AFL needs to close this loophole before it affects another pregnant player next season. It creates career uncertainty at such a vulnerable time.

Back to the club perspective. When there’s only 30 players on a list, there is no wiggle room; everyone is needed to play. A postpartum mother who has only recently given birth may not be a sure bet.

But if a team were guaranteed an extra list spot for the season after a player gives birth, as well as while she’s pregnant, then the Petersons, Antonios and Claydens of the AFLW might not be cut so brutally after childbirth.

While AFLW is still a fledging competition, there are clear holes in the parental policy under the current collective bargaining agreement.

The league needs to fix it. Maybe that comes in the next CBA – discussions will begin in the first half of next year, as the current deal is due to expire at the end of 2027.

However the fix comes, it needs to be a priority. It would be a bad look for another pregnant or freshly postpartum mother to be delisted again.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.