LAST season, Melbourne seemed to have all the answers. That was, until it came up against eventual premiers Adelaide.

With an offseason to focus on the areas the Crows exploited on the biggest day of the season, the Demons flew to South Australia for a Grand Final rematch armed with a plan of action and the confidence to execute it.

Neat hands

"Visually it was handball receives," Adelaide head coach Matthew Clarke said after the game when questioned about where his side fell behind, and the numbers back up the claim.

In the past, Melbourne has preferred a kicking game over the use of handballs, but on Friday 46.1 per cent of its disposals were by hand. The Demons ran in support of one another, which allowed them to flick the ball out of danger with clean handballs before reverting to their kicking game to gain more ground.

Many of these handball chains began thanks to quick decisions at stoppages, and the ability to win the hard ball. That tough work is an area where Melbourne struggled to best Adelaide in recent meetings.

Where the game was won

Eliza West led the way in this respect for Melbourne. The rookie had 25 disposals, 19 of which were handballs releasing teammates on the outside.

Efficiency in attack

In recent outings against Adelaide, Melbourne has struggled to find its groove in attack. As womens.afl outlined last week, the gap between the Demons' attack against the rest of the competition, and its return against Adelaide in season six was significant.

On Friday, Melbourne straightened the ship inside 50, taking a shot on goal 48.3 per cent of its entries and kicking at an accuracy of 42.9 per cent. They also goaled through six different players, a far cry from the two in each of their last couple of cracks at Adelaide.

Making the most of their forward entries

For the Crows, finding marks inside 50 and generating plenty of shots on goal has been their method in attack, averaging 9.1 and 16.1 respectively last season. On the weekend, they were afforded just four marks inside 50 and seven shots on goal – their lowest of each metric since 2021. Adelaide was able to generate a goal from just 12 per cent of its inside 50s, and not even an accuracy of 57.1 per cent could help push them over the line.

An aggressive defence

In its last two matchups against the Crows, Melbourne's backline found itself trying to protect deep forward 50 entries which, in turn, meant its attempts to rebound were sullied by Adelaide's disciplined intercepting structure. Any sense of a rebounding game was taken from the Demons. In round one of the brand-new season, however, their backline became very aggressive, refusing to get trapped deep in their defensive pocket.

In just her fourth game, Tahlia Gillard sat alongside dual All-Australian Libby Birch on the last line of defence and used her booming kick to clear dangerous balls close to goal. Clarke made mention after the game that Melbourne "owned 0-30m aerially".

That security allowed the likes of Shelley Heath, Sarah Lampard and Maeve Chaplin to push high up the ground and play really attacking footy.

Melbourne progressively found more ball in the attacking half in its three recent games against Adelaide

Alongside this, the Demons worked hard to not only take Adelaide's intercepting game away, but to use that game style to their own advantage, kicking 54.5 per cent of their score from turnovers on Friday – something that in the past has been Adelaide's bread and butter. Across AFLW seasons five and six, the Crows lost the intercept count just three times, and never by more than two. On Friday they lost the count by six, their biggest losing differential in the metric since round three of season four.

In the Crows' surge to back-to-back Grand Finals in the last two seasons, much of their ability to control games and score was thanks to that intercepting game. Once that was taken away, they were on the back foot.

Scores from turnover

"(Daisy Pearce) had a role tonight to keep their intercept game to a minimum," Melbourne head coach Mick Stinear noted post game, pointing to the selfless task he handed his captain. While it was referenced broadly, Pearce very specifically targeted the spearhead of Adelaide's defensive structure, Sarah Allan.

Allan, a three-time All-Australian and triple premiership player, averaged 5.5 intercepts from 11.2 disposals last season, and registered seven intercepts in each of her last two outings against the Demons. On Friday, however, she claimed just two, while also winning three disposals – an equal-career low.

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Wearing Allan like a glove, Pearce kicked a goal from her eight disposals, but nothing she did on the stat sheet was more important than the negating role she played on Allan.

While last season Adelaide was able to snatch away Melbourne's best assets, round one was a different story. The Demons took key features from the reigning premiers' game and used them for their own benefit. They executed a well-devised game plan, but above all, Melbourne had the determination and confidence to stand up when tested.