The Bombers officially launched their bid, flagged by Fairfax Media earlier in the week, at a lunch on Friday marking the 20th anniversary of the Essendon Women's Network.

The club's No.1 ticket-holder, Olympic rowing gold medallist Kim Brennan, made the official announcement. The submission focuses on the stories of two young female footballers, Michaela Long and Georgia Patrikios. Long is the daughter of Dons great Michael Long, and the sister of fringe Bomber Jake Long.

Long, 20, spoke on Friday of her yearning to play for the club, revealing that she turned down approaches from Greater Western Sydney and Geelong.

The Dons are one of up to eight clubs jostling for a spot in the expanded competition in 2019, in which the league could increase from eight to either 10 or 12 teams. Five clubs - Geelong, Richmond, North Melbourne, St Kilda and West Coast - have been granted provisional licences for places in the expanded league, having bid unsuccessfully for a spot in the 2017 competition. The AFL has promised to give those five clubs' bids additional weighting.

Essendon opted not to bid the first time around as the club remained embroiled in the fallout of the drugs saga. Fairfax Media understands the Bombers weren't told at the time that their chances this time around would be hurt by their initial failure to apply.

While the Bombers need to overcome obstacles, including the continued presence of club cricket, to play games at Windy Hill, they have left the door ajar for a return down the track. Instead they will play at Craigieburn's Highgate Recreation Reserve, and plan to take a game to a remote Indigenous community, most likely the Tiwi Islands.

The development of facilities and pathways in the north-west corridor of Melbourne and the remote Northern Territory communities of Tiwi and Maningrida are focuses of the submission, which also includes a club pledge to improve the Dons' home base at Tullamarine with an $18 million investment which would include the building of women's changerooms.

Despite not having a provisional licence, the Dons are optimistic about their chances of gaining a team, hopeful their submission will learn from mistakes made by clubs during the first AFLW campaign. Essendon also sought advice from external parties - including soccer's governing body Football Federation Australia - prior to finalising their submission, which must be handed to the AFL by next Friday afternoon, ahead of a decision likely to be around the end of July.

Fairfax Media reported earlier this week that only two clubs without AFLW teams: Sydney and Port Adelaide, have ruled out bidding for a spot in 2019. Hawthorn have already committed to bidding, while Gold Coast have been considering the prospect.

Essendon chief Xavier Campbell said he was excited about his club's bid.

"We have conducted thorough research with the inaugural AFLW clubs, have strong financial interest from new and existing commercial partners, consulted with a number of industry experts and key stakeholders, and through the key learnings built a strong framework we believe will help us establish a strong and sustainable AFLW model," Campbell said.

"If successful in our submission, we believe an AFLW team will have a huge impact on our ability to connect and grow the game in the north-west corridor of Melbourne and in our next generation zones of Tiwi Islands and Maningrida."