Full house: the first game of the AFLW competition. Credit:Adam Trafford/AFL Media AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh admitted the players' union had already planned end-of-season talks with head office, although stressed what most clubs had confirmed – that the players have not questioned their earnings. Having attempted to set a minimum player wage of $5000 for the eight-week pre-season followed by the eight-week season, the AFL late last year negotiated a new set minimum with the AFLPA of $8500, to be increased to $9700 in 2018. If the above suggests the league did not see this success coming so quickly, it is also worth recalling that the AFL tried to schedule its first women's game at Collingwood's training ground – the old Olympic Park – and finished up apologising to thousands of fans unable to squeeze into Carlton's Ikon Park, where almost 25,000 attended. Although the women's contracts are proportionately paltry when measured against TV ratings, the clubs fielding the eight women's teams continue to marvel at how enthusiastic their players have been to promote their sport compared with their male counterparts. In short, club officials are not used to footballers showing their appreciation.

Several Brisbane Lions AFLW players cried when they were handed new football boots along with a set of runners and like those overstretched AFL staffers working long hours to put on the games, Marsh said players understood they were all working overtime together to achieve a common purpose. "We've agreed to a standard playing contract for two years in good faith," said Marsh, "and they [the AFL] could hold us to that, but we've already flagged we want to have a conversation with them and they've agreed. "What we're seeing is eight teams and eight sets of players who all want to do more. They are contracted to work for nine hours a week in terms of training and other appearances and they're all doing more and they have no complaints about that. From our perspective there's scope to have conversations with the AFL where we look at that for next year." The AFL refused to speculate on a new women's media deal, saying it was too soon to measure the TV success just two rounds in, but would not rule out rewriting the agreement. How could it not on the figures to date? The Western Bulldogs' victory over Fremantle two weeks ago was the top-rating program in Melbourne that week, defeating My Kitchen Rules in a result that astonished the Seven Network. On market value, broadcasters and the AFL agree a prime-time women's game is worth the same as Seven's Saturday night winter AFL game.

This is because Saturday night telecasts of AFLW have, in their infancy, rated as well as their male AFL equivalents, and on many comparisons better. On pay TV, Fox reports that the competition has quadrupled its male A-League numbers. In ratings terms, the women Australian rules footballers' wages look embarrassing when compared with the soccer men. On every measure that counts, the AFL should be laughing all the way to the bank. As should its new breed of players. Except that they're not, because the competition gave away the broadcast rights for free to Channel Seven and Foxtel on a two-year goodwill agreement. At one point the two parties even haggled over the production costs although in the end the networks picked up the tab, outsourcing the production of all games to Eddie McGuire's McGuire Media. An agreement which only weeks ago appeared as if its broadcasters were doing the AFL a favour now presents as a bargain of the highest order. The decision to allow spectators to attend free has introduced new supporters to football, according to head office, and is likely to continue next season. New corporate partners such as Chemist Warehouse and Cotton On – supporting the women until at least the end of 2019 with a further three-year option – would not have come aboard the AFL without the women. The competition was disappointed Sydney failed to bid for a licence but the consequence is that GWS has signed more AFLW members (2000 at $60 each) and introduced new major sponsors to the club in Harvey Norman and Sydney Airport. Never have the Giants, still battling for recognition, received so much pre-season publicity.

The short-term decisions facing the competition include where and when to hold the AFLW version of the Brownlow and whether to schedule a Melbourne grand final at the MCG or Ikon Park. But those appear insignificant compared with the looming review into how to handle the next phase of the AFLW - a competition launched in haste by impatient CEO Gillon McLachlan, but one that will surely prove his greatest legacy. Should the women's season continue to draw support at its current success rate - or even if it suffers a small drop-off as other competitions start - the cost-sensitive AFL will have to fund a raft of new resources for its new population in terms of staff and infrastructure. There are not enough grounds and facilities to field the rapid influx of new teams coming into women's football – certainly not in Victoria and definitely not in NSW. A renegotiated broadcast deal would help fund that and seems a certainty for season 2018. And with that, greater reward for the playing pioneers who helped create all this.