Start date confirmed for 2017 WAFL SeasonTuesday, October 25, 2016 - 3:31 PM

The 2017 McDonald's WAFL Premiership season will commence on the weekend of March 18, a week prior to the 2017 AFL season. 

The season will consist of 20 games per club over 23 Rounds, with a full set of fixtures to be developed over the coming months that will take into account the timing for byes, feature rounds and venue availability.   

WAFL General Manager Steve Hargrave said the WAFL had committed to retaining a 23-round season following a thorough investigation into alternative options.

"The research undertaken and the data collected clearly demonstrated that there is merit in moving to an 18-game model," he said. 

"However, given the current Structural Review of WA Football and the impending recommendations that will result from this project, it has been decided to feed this business case into the broader review.

"As such and in the interests of providing all WAFL clubs with a clear position for the 2017 season, we can confirm that we will maintain the same fixture format of 20 games and 23 rounds for the 2017 WAFL League season.

"It is however important to highlight that the intent to assess the existing length of the WAFL season is on the agenda and will form part of the overall assessment within the Structural Review of WA Football," he said.