THIS season is going to look different, in a good way.
With the last round of expansion now two years in the rear-view mirror, the competitive balance of the AFLW is now ready to settle and tighten.
Yes, the teams we've always seen at the pointy end of the season will likely still be there. Adelaide and Brisbane are well-oiled machines. But it is the chasing pack that has changed and improved.
The gap is no longer yawning, instead, it's one point here, or one injury there.
Last year's preliminary finals proved this. Two of the first expansion sides the AFLW saw – North Melbourne and Geelong – were serious challengers all the way though finals.
The first AFLW preliminary finals took place in the year they came in, 2019, with an average margin across the two games coming in at 51 points.
In the seasons from 2021 to 2022 (S7), the average preliminary final margin had narrowed to 13.3 points, with the largest win Brisbane's 23-point victory over Adelaide in 2022 (S7).
That narrowed to 2.5 points last year. It narrowed because the chasing pack got closer.
This year we can expect more competition deeper into the ladder. It's no longer going to be just the top three or four teams who present as genuine contenders.
No, this year it will be the likes of Hawthorn, Essendon, and Gold Coast who do some real damage. Teams that might finish in the bottom half of the eight, maybe even just fall into finals on percentage, but offer real challenges for those top teams.
Is this all built on a naive hope that more teams will be in with a shot this year? Maybe. But pre-season form suggests there is a little more to it than that.
Based on pre-season performances, several teams have clearly prioritised an outside running game - the ability to escape congestion and move the ball in space with skill. This was most evident with Hawthorn which, under new coach Daniel Webster, has harnessed the serious running power on its list.
Kaitlyn Ashmore and Aileen Gilroy have carried much of the load in terms of Hawthorn's run in recent years, but now with the addition of players like Casey Sherriff and draftee Mikayla Williamson that contingent grows.
Gold Coast also boasts commanding runners like Claudia Whitfort and Lucy Single, able to turn stoppage wins into territory gains, and connect well with wingers Niamh McLaughlin and Georgia Clayden.
It is a style of play that Brisbane has perfected in recent seasons, with Cathy Svarc's burst from the contest a trademark of how the Lions play, engaging well with outside runners like Orla O'Dwyer and Sophie Conway.
North Melbourne and Adelaide engage that run-and-gun in different ways, focusing on maintaining a front-half game to pile on heavy scores.
That desire to aggressively move the ball forward is reflected in growing metres gained numbers. Last season, the four highest average metres gained teams in AFLW history – Adelaide, Melbourne, North Melbourne, and Brisbane – finished in the top four.
As clubs perfect their individual brands and engage more sophisticated strategies to keep up with the growing skillset their lists boast, this attacking trend will only continue.
And fans of AFLW will be the biggest beneficiaries.
