St Kilda is extremely proud to have lodged it’s submission for a National Women’s League (NWL) team license today.

CEO Matt Finnis said the Saints were driven by the belief that women can do anything and deserve this opportunity in football.

Click here to watch the video that was part of St Kilda’s submission.

"I am confident that we have a very compelling case to win one of the inaugural licences – our submission is driven by a genuine belief in the power of what this competition can achieve and the important message it sends,” he said.

"Every club needs to put forward a detailed submission and tick all the boxes, but if there is a group that really deserves it, we think it's actually the young women of bayside Melbourne.

"They are demonstrating through their playing numbers, passion and talent that they need a team to represent them and we want to be that team.

"We're really keen to be part of the inaugural National Women's League. We think the League itself is a really powerful opportunity for our game to contribute to what is a belated shift across the community, in terms of demonstrating that women can do anything.

“This is not something we have just discovered as a club – we have been living it for years. Celebrating diversity and equality is part of our DNA, it comes from the unique place where this club was born.”

Click here to watch Matt Finnis discuss why St Kilda has bid for a license.

In 2014 St Kilda appointed the first female full-time AFL coach in Peta Searle. The club also has three female executive members, two female board members and a CEO who is a male champion of change.

The club’s commitment to equality and diversity is also shown by its support of the annual Pride March and the push to play in the inaugural Pride Match in Round 21.

"One of our submission’s advantages is that we have a long demonstrated commitment to equality and diversity – I believe we are one of the real leaders amongst AFL clubs in this way,” Finnis said.

“We have also had the advantage of being able to draw on the wisdom of a five-time VWFL premiership coach and champion player in Peta Searle. I am not sure there would be a better person in football to guide us through creating and developing a women’s team.

"Peta is an AFL coach in her own right so we need to make sure she is supported to be able to continue to do that; but when you're a five-time premiership coach in women's football, you know one or two things that might be useful for a women’s team. She will play a central role guiding the team."

Finnis said participation in women's football was growing rapidly in the bayside area and that two of the seven VWFL premier division clubs (St Kilda City Sharks and Seaford Tigerettes) were from the region.

"One in every six females playing footy in Greater Melbourne does so in the bayside and one in four females playing ‘club’ footy does so in the bayside. It really is the engine room of female football and it’s growing fast,” he said.

“For us, the opportunity to provide role models and an aspirational team to provide that pathway is absolutely fantastic and we want to be a part of it.”

For the past four months an internal St Kilda subcommittee – made up of GM Football, Jamie Cox, GM Customer and Community, Lisa Laing and Searle – have been diligently working on the NWL proposal.

St Kilda's model is based around creating an integrated coaching and high performance network for one club, fielding three teams in three leagues (AFL, NWL and VFL).

The St Kilda submission is built the following key elements (which the club has provided the AFL extensive detail on):