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Richmond and West Coast have been granted AFLW special assistance after their disappointing inaugural seasons in the competition.

Richmond and West Coast have each been handed an end-of-first-round AFLW draft pick to trade for established talent after their difficult inaugural seasons in the competition.

Granted special assistance by the AFL, the Tigers and Eagles received picks 15 and 16 respectively - selections that must be traded to bring in ready-made talent.

That draft pick can be combined with other draft selections and/or players in a trade for established players but cannot be used to bring a draft pick back the other way.

Both clubs applied for "special assistance" when providing the AFL with an update on their expansion list build after finishing bottom of their respective conferences.

"After a detailed assessment of the list challenges facing the two clubs, their opportunities for improvement and an examination of how their respective issues can be addressed, the decision was made to provide special assistance," AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said.

"There is no doubt both clubs had challenges building a competitive list in the first year of participation in the competition and it is to the benefit of the entire competition that they are competitive."

Despite recruiting big names Katie Brennan, Monique Conti and Sabrina Frederick, the Tigers had a winless debut season, leading to the sacking of coach Tom Hunter.

Richmond finished bottom of conference A with an average losing margin of 34.5 points across six games.

West Coast were bottom of conference B with a percentage of 32.1 and just one win.

The AFLW sign and trade period is scheduled to commence on August 3 and clubs are not permitted to enter into contracts or make commitments to players until it begins.

During the sign and trade period, clubs can sign up to 27 players, including "rookie" players who have not been listed with an Australian football team for the past three years.

AFLW first round draft order

1. Richmond

2. West Coast

3. Western Bulldogs

4. Adelaide

5. Geelong

6. St Kilda

7. Gold Coast

8. Brisbane Lions

9. GWS

10. Collingwood

11. Melbourne

12. Carlton

13. North Melbourne

14. Fremantle

15. Richmond*

16. West Coast*

* Must be on-traded for established AFLW talent