2017 Summary
The club played each of the other seven clubs once in the home-and-away series of the inaugural AFL Women's fixture over February and March. The main highlight of the fixture was the Round 1 match against Collingwood, which saw the two traditional men's rivals play the first match in the new competition's history. The match, for which admission was free, drew a lockout crowd of 24,568 at Ikon Park, after having originally been scheduled for Collingwood's 5,000-capacity Olympic Park training oval then being transferred due to the expected crowd. The team's Round 4, 5 and 6 matches against Melbourne, Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs served as curtain-raisers to the senior team's pre-season practice matches against the same clubs. The club finished fourth out of eight on the ladder, with a final record of 3–3–1.Under the competition's player recruitment regulations, each of the eight clubs was entitled to sign two marquee players. In July 2016, Carlton recruited St Kilda Sharks key position/midfielder and former Australian international soccer goalkeeper Brianna Davey and Darebin Falcons full forward Darcy Vescio as its marquee players. Darebin midfielder Lauren Arnell also signed with the club as a priority signing due to her pre-existing relationship with the club as its Female Football Ambassador. The club drew most of its remaining recruits from the inaugural AFL Women's draft, with Cranbourne forward Bianca Jakobsson taken with Carlton's first round selection at No. 3 overall. Arnell was made the inaugural captain of the team, with Davey and Madeline Keryk serving as vice-captains.
The following individual awards were won by Carlton players:
1) Brianna Davey won the club's inaugural AFLW best and fairest award with 53 votes. Davey finished ahead of Danielle Hardiman (31 votes) and Alison Downie (28 votes).
2) Darcy Vescio was the league's leading goalkicker, kicking 14 goals to finish three goals ahead of Sarah Perkins (Adelaide)
3) Brianna Davey and Darcy Vescio were the only two Carlton players named in the All-Australian Team.
4) Darcy Vescio won the league's Mark of the Year award.
People of 2017
Coach: Damien KeepingCaptain: Lauren Arnell
Vice-Captains: Brianna Davey & Madeline Keryk
Milestones
2017 Virgin Australia AFL Women's All Australian team:Defender: Brianna Davey
Forwards: Darcy Vescio
2017 AFLW Leading Goalkicker: Darcy Vescio
2017 AFLW Mark of the Year: Darcy Vescio
2017 AFLW State Representatives:
Victoria; Lauren Arnell, Brianna Davey, Alison Downie, Sarah Hosking, Nicola Stevens
The Allies; Tayla Harris, Bianca Jakobsson
Ladder
| Pos | Team | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | For | Against | % |
| 1 | Brisbane Lions | 6 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 224 | 148 | 151.4 |
| 2 | Adelaide Crows | 5 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 291 | 185 | 157.3 |
| 3 | Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 258 | 183 | 141 |
| 4 | Carlton | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 261 | 232 | 112.5 |
| 5 | Collingwood | 3 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 224 | 262 | 85.5 |
| 6 | Western Bulldogs | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 237 | 232 | 102.2 |
| 7 | Fremantle | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 191 | 298 | 64.1 |
| 8 | GWS Giants | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 157 | 303 | 51.8 |
2017 AFLW Grand Final
Saturday 25th March 2017
Adelaide Crows 4.11.35 d Brisbane Lions 4.5.29