RICHMOND'S "very strong preference" to play its home semi-final against North Melbourne at the Swinburne Centre means there is little to no chance of it being moved, despite the game selling out.

Tickets were exhausted within 13 minutes of going on general sale on Monday, with the venue able to accommodate around 2,500 fans.

The teams played two weeks ago, attracting a crowd of 3,100 at Arden Street.

Tigers CEO Brendon Gale told News Corp that his side had earned a home final.

"We had some discussions with the AFL regarding the venue for this weekend's game, but ultimately we decided our AFLW team had earned the right to play a home final," Gale said.

"Our players and coaching staff have worked incredibly hard for this opportunity and are very excited to be playing at the Swinburne Centre.

"While we understand some fans will be disappointed given the capacity of the venue, we owe it to our players to give them the best chance of winning.

"This discussion underlines the significance of our planned redevelopment at Punt Road Oval which will grow our capacity to almost 8000 – a project we are fully committed to delivering."

There has been significant backlash on social media from fans who have been unable to get tickets, as well as those concerned about the timing clash with the Matildas' match against Sweden at the nearby AAMI Park.

The AFLW supporter base has a substantial overlap with women's sporting fans in general.

Richmond has previously opted to move to alternate venues for AFLW matches due to Punt Road Oval's limited capacity, with the Tigers moving two home games in 2020 to accommodate a larger crowd.

The AFL provided womens.afl with the following statement:

"Richmond earned the right to host the semi-final and indicated a very strong preference to play on their home deck at Punt Road – which we know will have a great atmosphere come 1:40pm Saturday. 

"When scheduling finals matches, the AFL takes into consideration a number of factors including the home team venue preference, days breaks for clubs (both the week before and the following week), timings for fans, clubs and broadcast, and forecasted crowd / venue capacity.

"Our role is to give our AFLW matches the best possible chance to be a successful event and after an amazing week one, we have two great semi-finals lined up on Saturday afternoon across Victoria and SA, live on Channel 7, and on based on day one ticket sales, really strong attendance interest in both games."

Both the Richmond-North Melbourne match and the Adelaide-Collingwood game at Unley Oval must be played during the day due to a lack of broadcast-quality lights for night matches.

The WBBL Melbourne Derby – also broadcast on the Seven Network – is being played on Sunday, while the need to avoid five or six-day breaks is also considered.