As the men of Aussie rules prepare for their biggest week of the year, there are changes afoot in the women's game.

Both the AFL and the AFL Players Association are currently working on vision statements for the league, a set of guiding principles as to how to move forward into season three of the AFLW.

It is, in part, a response to voiced concerns of players and other stakeholders that decisions of late have been "made up on the run" to some degree.

Just 19 months after the seismic shock that was the birth of the AFLW, there are questions being raised about how the AFL is handling the juggernaut, and whether adequate planning and resources are being brought to bear at a critical stage of AFLW's history.

There remains widespread praise for the AFL establishing the league ahead of schedule, and acknowledgement there are many passionate people working to establish the league's future.

However, a number of players and figures involved in AFLW have told the ABC they are dismayed by a year of distractions and missteps, which they say highlight the dangerous lack of long-term planning.

Tiarna Ernst (L) holds the AFLW Premiership cup aloft with stand-in captain Ellie Blackburn. ( Supplied: AFL Media. )

The AFL has told the ABC it is actively addressing such concerns and claims to have boosted staff numbers at AFL HQ and at community level.

But at this stage it has no plan to make public its one- to three-year strategy.

'Where are we going now?'

AFLW veteran Meg Hutchins is working with the AFL Players Association on its own vision statement and said it was critical to get the league's strategy in place now.

"In year two, and leading into year three, it's probably just more a query about where are we going now with this competition," she said.

A long-term strategy, in the view of Hutchins, would in the first instance help the players make critical life decisions.

"You've got a lot of women who potentially are giving up work and delaying family, changing their life (to get an) AFLW experience. So it would be good to give them a little bit more certainty," she said.

"Also, [in terms of] attracting athletes from other sports, if they can't see what the vision is then why would they give up playing their other sport at a high level?"

Hutchins sees dangers if a comprehensive plan is not laid out soon.

"My big fear is that fans of AFL in general might lose a bit of interest, because they can't see where it's going either, so they might see it as a little bit of a gimmick to be honest," she said.

Daisy Pearce was critical of proposed fixture planning for the coming season in the AFLW. ( AAP: Julian Smith )

"And that really cuts deep, calling something that you're really passionate about and you're investing so much time [in] a gimmick."

"Gimmicky" was exactly how AFLW star Daisy Pearce described how the league appeared under the AFL's plans to cut the 2019 season to an eight-week competition.

That announcement, the response from AFL boss Gillon McLachlan (who said: "The World Cup goes for four weeks, you don't hear anyone calling that Mickey Mouse"), the cutting of the AFLW marketing in its second year, plus the oxygen-sucking launch of the widely derided AFLX, all have led to increasing consternation behind the scenes.

'Actions speak louder than words'

There's no doubt the AFL has seen the metrics indicating the unique power and reach of the women's game, even at this early stage. And few doubt the AFL knows that it is onto a good thing.

McLachlan himself was on record saying: "There is no bigger priority for us in AFL House than women's football ... no bigger, there are equal, but it's a huge priority for us."

Susan Alberti is a pioneer of women's footy and part of the founding AFLW advisory group.

She is not alone in fearing interest could falter if the AFLW is mishandled at this critical stage.

"Gill himself has said we are experiencing a revolution. I'm a great believer actions speak louder than words," she said.

"We've got so many women playing the game now. Hey wake up!"

The question for some is whether the AFL has become complacent about the strength of that support continuing if the integrity of the competition is not made clear in its fixturing plans, and if the pathways supplied for players and coaches aren't developed more quickly.

'Overall the AFL has much to be proud of'

Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon praises the AFL boss for getting more right than wrong for the women.

"I think overall the AFL has much to be proud of," he said. "AFLW is the most profound and important progress in the sport since Harrison and Wills."

The AFLW has been universally viewed as a huge success. The challenge now is how best to build on that goodwill. ( AAP: Tony McDonough )

But he too has been frustrated by some aspects of the AFLW's management this year.

"I think AFLW and more broadly, women's football, would benefit from a longer term strategic plan and I hope one is in the offing," he said.

"But it's a new industry and a lot of the planning for it necessarily relies on good guesses because of an absence of data."

Gordon points to the competing and demanding range of priorities for the AFL across a range of departments, but argues that within those constraints better decisions could be made to support the women's game.

"I would support increased investment in AFLW and I would prefer to see every dollar invested in AFLX instead channelled into AFLW," he said.

'We need to see some kind of planning'

As a passionate observer, Leesa Catto has watched on with trepidation as 2018 has unfolded.

Catto has been in women's footy for decades, one of the old crew who were part of the unseen, unrewarded struggle ahead of the AFLW.

"In 2017 we saw a massive fanfare showcase starting the game with a bang," she said.

"The second year, you would have thought we'd really want to continue that and increase it but AFLX came in competing."

She believes there will be players training for the upcoming season feeling like they need more signs of commitment from the AFL.

"I think that the love of AFL will keep those girls pushing and pushing but they would be disillusioned as would the current players at the moment," she said.

"They've got to have faith in the AFL, as we all do, but we need to see some kind of planning and to be able to have visibility of that for everyone, not just within AFL HQ but for everyone that's invested in the game.

"It should have already started happening, so hopefully it has been. And hopefully we [eventually] see that it's not like it appears, that sometimes it's made up on the run."