Essendon wants its own women's team, with the club's CEO calling the length of time it had taken to establish a national female competition "a blight on the game in some respects".
The Bombers hosted a training session at their Tullamarine training facility on Tuesday evening for 80 young women from the AFL Victoria Women's Academy Program.
CEO Xavier Campbell said the club would be fighting for a licence to create a women's team ahead of the launch of a national competition in less than two years.
The AFL at first set 2020 as the target for creating a national women's competition, but league chief executive Gillon McLachlan this year brought that date forward to 2017.
It comes after exhibition matches between some of Australia's best female footballers this year proved a resounding success.
The game between the Melbourne and Western Bulldogs' in round 20 got more viewers than the Essendon v Adelaide match that weekend.
The AFL has long boasted great support from women fans, but has fewer female players at a community level than other sports, like soccer.
As the biggest code in the country, the AFL could contribute to addressing socially constructed stereotypes, Campbell said. A women's team was also part of the Bomber's strategy to increase female engagement and membership.
Campbell said by 2027 he hoped the women's competition would be commercially viable and televised.
The academy is a new program that aims to train and improve more than 100 of the state's best women footballers over nine months.
