SOUTH Australian women's football legend Jenny Williams believes an intense rivalry could exist between Adelaide and Port Adelaide women's sides, but warns rushing the development of such teams could result in their failure.
On Monday the Crows officially signaled their intention to bid for an AFL license in the inaugural women's league in 2017, while the Power are also hopeful of fielding a team.
West Coast, Fremantle, Essendon and Geelong have also expressed interest on the back of the success of this year's women's game between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
Williams is one of South Australia's most successful female athletes having represented South Australia in six different sports. She captained the state in the first women's interstate game against Victoria in 1990 and will coach West Adelaide's women's side next season.
The daughter of Fos Williams and sister of former Power premiership coach Mark Williams tipped the rivalry between two women's teams in Adelaide to reflect that between the two AFL clubs.
But she cautioned that without the necessary development pathways in place the teams would struggle to achieve longevity.
"There would be a similar rivalry, the question would come back to the fact that at the moment South Australia isn't even in division one for the state competition," Williams told AFL.com.au.
"If you go in thinking 'oh let's just put this team in' and you don't do it well you'll spoil the whole area and we won't develop homegrown talent we'll just be taking the best from around the country.
"It needs to be well thought out … in every other [women's] sport in Australia two teams hasn't actually worked.
"We need thousands of women playing football in South Australia to start rivaling Victoria … I think the state has some catching up to do; Victoria's done an amazing job with women's footy."
Adelaide head of football David Noble said the formation of the club's advisory committee would help to develop a sound development pathway for potential players.
Noble will sit on the committee, as will the club's SANFL coach Heath Younie and ANZ Championship-winning coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson.
Noble said his experience in setting up development pathways in New South Wales in the mid 90s resembled the work required to develop women's footy in South Australia.
"We probably feel that as a state, working with the SANFL, we're probably a little short on the development of that talent so they've taken some steps and we think we can help progress that talent direction," Noble said.
"It's no different to the talent pathway I was lucky enough to be involved in [with] the NSW/ACT Rams when they came into the TAC Cup.
"We had to put in a number of hubs that allowed the growth of that talent and once you create the pathway, I'm telling you, the talent will come.
"Once that talent [can] see an avenue to go to and a direction … to grow, it comes very quickly."
Women interested in trialing for Adelaide's squad should email womensafl@afc.com.au
