Bracing for further coronavirus cases, AFL hierarchy have released fresh guidelines for the women's season starting on January 7.
Games will continue to be played if 16 of each club's 30 primary-listed players are available for selection plus five train-on players.
If the minimum 21 players aren't available, AFLW officials will seek to reschedule the game for another time in that round or later in the season.
In a worst-case scenario of a game unable to be rescheduled, the match would be cancelled.
The AFL's general manager of competition management Laura Kane says the the protocols have been introduced to mitigate risk.
"In a national sport played across many states and territories, we need to be able to adapt, and adapt quickly, to the COVID conditions," Kane said in a statement on Wednesday,
"These guidelines help us achieve this.
"Over the last two seasons the AFL ... have planned for every possible contingency and circumstance.
"It is an approach that has successfully helped us navigate both our competitions through a really uncertain time."
All AFLW players and staffers must be vaccinated while at least three AFLW clubs - GWS, Western Bulldogs and Richmond - have already had pre-season training interrupted after positive COVID-19 tests among their respective groups.
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