COLLINGWOOD premiership player and radio host Dale Thomas knows first-hand what it’s like being a “girl-dad”.

Thomas, who played a combined 258 AFL matches for Collingwood and Carlton, has a young daughter and has seen what the growth of the AFLW competition has done for young kids.

He joined AFL.com.au’s Tagged ahead of this weekend’s opening round to discuss the AFLW through the eyes of a “girl-dad”, injuries and his advice for aspiring footballers.

“The opportunities now are unbelievable, so many of her friends play football,” he told afl.com.au’s Tagged.

“The fact that that is an avenue now, the opportunity to follow a pathway and to have a dream, you can’t be it if you can’t see it was a catchcry early on, I’m massive on that.”

>> WATCH THE LATEST EPISODE OF TAGGED BELOW

The Swans and Pies will kickstart the 2024 season on Friday night and Thomas believes that that is where the dream could start for a young girl. 

“Friday night, everyone will sit down and get their footy fix, the level the game is getting to is brilliant,” he said.

“There will be young girls watching on for the first time, but that’s where the fire will start, and the dream and the journey process begins.”

In a jam-packed episode, Thomas, alongside co-hosts and AFLW superstars Sarah Hosking and Sarah Rowe, took a deep dive into the injury crisis at the top level.

“We were having a good chat about the way the impacts and the collisions happen, I was putting my lens through it, as a young kid growing up you start tackling, you get caught and your intent matches your technique, whereas a lot of what we see in the AFLW, the intent is so fantastic… and at the last minute there’s no real thought of technique,” Thomas said.

However, this year, AFLW athletes have had more contact hours at the club as they progress towards a full-time career, which has allowed for more time to be spend refining tackling technique.

Max Viney, the brother of Demon Jack, runs a jiu-jitsu centre and has spent time working with Collingwood ahead of the AFLW season, improving on their tackling technique.

Hosking outlined how she didn’t begin learning to play football until she was 20 years of age, but that the improvement in technique was already starting to shine through with the next generation.

“I’m excited to see the next generation of players coming through, the ones that have played since Auskick because I think that is where you learn specifically how to tackle, how to protect your body, I think we’ll see a drastic change in the next few years,” Hosking said.

“In the first few seasons, there was such a short, condensed window coming into the games that you couldn’t focus on everything. You couldn’t focus on all of gameplan, ball skills and tackling was left to the side,” Thomas added.

As for advice to young aspiring footballers, Thomas’ tip was simple.

“When you are a young player coming through, I think it’s all about having a football in your hands,” he said.

“Having a ball in your hand and figuring out what it does until it’s almost an extension of yourself, I still think that that’s the biggest thing.”

Hosking and Rowe also discussed the opening of AFLW this weekend, which is set to be bigger and better than ever in 2024.

“It’s been a huge week; the pressure is building and there’s lots of nervous energy,” Rowe said.

Rowe will feature for Collingwood in the season opener at North Sydney Oval on Friday night, while Hosking will play just hours later for Richmond against West Coast at Lathlain Park.

In fresh episodes of Tagged every Tuesday, Hosking and Rowe will tackle everything from pop culture to the latest footy news.

This week's episode also includes:

• The excitement ahead of the W launch
• A wrap on the men’s season
• Rowey talks about the growing Irish presence in Aussie Rules
• Daisy joins the show, discussing injuries, advice for youngsters and the W league through the eyes of a “girl-dad”
• The duo’s Tagged list for the weekend, thanks to Visit Victoria

You can watch Tagged every Tuesday on womens.afl and the AFLW and the AFL Live Official apps, and list to the podcast on your preferred platforms on the same day.