The AFL head of women's football, Nicole Livingstone has said that the option for each team to play each other once is still there for 2019 but it is one of several options debated.

A number of factors were also considered including the ideal time to start the season, the optimum number of matches per season, a conference structure and the possibility of playing more finals. 

"We had a discussion about the fixturing process," Livingstone told AFL.com. 

Clearly, this has had quite a bit of attention in the last little while.

"I'd like to make it really clear that no decisions have or had been made about the 2019 fixture and beyond," she said.

It was reported on Friday that the AFL had made the decision to keep it an eight week season by splitting it into separate conferences despite the expansion to 10 teams in 2019. This effectively would have seen teams play six rounds with two weeks of finals. 

However, while there have been discussions about the time of the season, the AFL considers the February-March window the ideal time for the competition.

There could be several new rule changes or variations to existing ones for the 2019 AFLW season. They will be trialled and tested in the VFL Women's match between Essendon and Williamstown next weekend and in the AFLW U18 exhibition match at the end of the month.

The trials will see:

- Kick-ins after behinds taken from an extended goal square.
- Boundary umpire throw-ins brought in by 10m.
- A legal kick reduced from 15 to 10m.
- The last-touch out-of-bounds rule to apply only between the 50m arcs. If the ball goes out while inside-50, a throw-in will occur.

The rules have already been trialled in the recent Winter Series between Brisbane, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney.

"Both Alan McConnell and Craig Starcevich gave us great feedback from the trials we had at the Winter Series," Livingstone said.

"We're coming up to our third season and it's important we respect what we're doing, but also, we're not afraid to be creative," she said.

The next AFLW Competition Committee meeting is set for next month.