ADELAIDE has joined forces with the Northern Territory in an attempt to secure a keenly-fought licence for the inaugural AFL women's competition in 2017.

In the wake of Port Adelaide announcing the signing of Australian Opals basketballer Erin Phillips – should the Power receive a women's team licence – the Crows have proposed a hybrid team in partnership with AFL Northern Territory.

About 7000 female players are registered in the NT, which would help the Crows overcome a perceived lack of depth in talent in South Australia.

The team would split matches between Adelaide and Darwin's TIO Stadium, but would be called the Adelaide Crows.

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There would be some AFLNT presence on the back of the jumpers and in the club colours.

"For the Northern Territory, who's probably never going to have an AFL male team here, to have a women's team ... that's a massive win for the Northern Territory," AFLNT CEO Michael Solomon told Fairfax Media.

"We don't want to see our best indigenous players forced to leave the Territory to play for teams around Australia when they could be based here.

"We have seven to eight women here who are ready to go and another 12 or so playing out of our youth academy at the Michael Long Centre who we believe would challenge for a senior place by 2017." 

Dozens of players have registered for trials with the Crows early next year after Adelaide recently announced it would bid for a licence.

The Western Bulldogs and Melbourne hope to field teams in the new competition after playing four exhibition matches since 2013 – all won by the Demons.

The Brisbane Lions, West Coast, Fremantle, Essendon and Carlton are among a number of clubs to also signal their interest.