PORT ADELAIDE is confident it will be competitive in the AFLW as soon as it enters the competition.

The AFL is calling for submissions from Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and the Sydney

Swans to join the NAB AFL Women’s Competition after the AFL Commission this week gave the green light for further expansion of the competition.

The Commission has committed to all 18 AFL clubs having an AFLW team by the beginning of Season Eight – 2023, or a year earlier based on their submissions and readiness.

Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson says the growth of the women’s game at the grassroots means he is confident the club will not only be ready to join the AFLW in 2022, but would be competitive immediately.

“I think we’ve all seen the growth of the game over the last five years – community clubs bursting at the seams with girls’ teams,” Mr Richardson said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

“We’ve been involved in the Next Generation Academy programs with the under 16 girls from our zoned clubs and now to be able to provide more girls with that opportunity and that dream to play at the highest level is very exciting.

“We’re really confident and the advantage we have is that the growth of girls’ football in South Australia is double every other state so if you go back five years there’s no doubt that one AFLW licence was probably the right decision.

“The opportunity that gives us in terms of the talent pathway coming through South Australia makes us really confident that as soon as we come into the competition, we can be really really competitive.”

Mr Richardson revealed the club had been working on its AFLW submission with a working group over the last nine months.

He said the club was also well down the path of creating world-class facilities for AFLW players and realising an exciting vision for the Alberton Oval precinct

“From our club’s perspective, we’re really excited by that opportunity,” Mr Richardson explained. “It ties in real nicely with our redevelopment plans at Alberton Oval to create not only great training and rehab facilities for our AFLW athletes but also Alberton Oval as a boutique stadium for playing AFLW from that 2022 season onwards.

“We’ve had an AFLW working group doing a lot of work on our submission already so we feel like we’re really well placed.

“We know AFLW brings greater diversity to clubs and greater diversity makes for better organisations and clubs so we’re looking forward to that first AFLW Showdown, which I’m sure will pack the house out at Adelaide Oval.

“The rivalry is driven by the fans as much as anything so it’ll be an exciting day for South Australia.”

As for recruiting and any suggestion Erin Phillips - the daughter of club great Greg Phillips – Mr Richardson deferred to Chris Davies and the football department, however he was excited by some of the talent in the club’s Next Generation Academy setup.

“I’ll leave (recruiting) to Chris and the footy guys. I know they’ve been doing quite a bit of work on looking at talent coming through,” he said.

“We’ve got an AFLW Next Generation Academy with a number of talented players coming through that and I know there’s some father-daughters in that program.

“The exciting thing about this is that it becomes real. The timeline is real and if you’re a 15,16 or 17-year-old girl coming through in South Australia at the moment, it’s just fantastic that they’ll have another AFLW team in South Australia to be able to dream of being part of.”