NORTH Melbourne and Geelong will join an expanded AFLW in 2019, bringing the competition to 10 clubs.

Four other clubs – Gold Coast, West Coast, Richmond and St Kilda – will join the League in 2020.

The Kangaroos and the Cats won a hard-fought battle to join the League next season, fending off applications from six other clubs seeking licences to join the booming competition.

Eight clubs – Essendon, Geelong, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast – applied in June, and presented their bids to an AFL sub-committee in July.

Five of those – the Cats, Kangaroos, Tigers, Saints and Eagles – held provisional licences after their applications to join the AFLW in its inaugural season were knocked back. 

The provisional licences meant their applications for this round of expansion received greater weight, as they had now been invested in AFLW for some time. 

The announcement of the 2019 expansion was initially slated for last month, but was delayed after the AFL Commission could not reach a decision and asked for further information from the AFL Executive.