FOR YEARS, the usual AFLW suspects have dominated the competition by playing attacking football.

Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and North Melbourne have set a standard that few have managed to match.

Geelong bobbed up last year and proved a worthy challenger, before collapsing this year.

Sydney also rose from the ashes of a wooden-spoon season, making a semi-final in 2023 but were well outplayed by Adelaide in that game.

Both the Cats and Swans are expected to be back in 2025.

But this year, it's been the turn of Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, and you get the feeling that these two sides are here to stay.

They've thrown down the gauntlet for the battlers of the competition – if you want to match it with the best, fast, attacking and free-flowing footy is key.

Most importantly, to use a Lauren Arnell-ism, it's also about "sustainable success".

While the significant recruitment and drafting concessions afforded to the expansion teams must be acknowledged, there's no doubting Daniel Webster and Arnell's emphasis on attacking footy has been a boon to the wider competition.

If the gap is to be closed on the perennial powerhouses, it's not going to be done by dour, defensive and stodgy football.

They do it in different ways – Port Adelaide overrunning Hawthorn itself with its surging, long-kicking style, while the Hawks prefer a mix of precision passing and overlap run – but their sharp rises up the ladder shows it works.

The initial feel was that both sides benefited from softer draws, afforded by poor 2024 seasons, but the Hawks arguably were the better team in both their finals, and Port Adelaide has now knocked over both Richmond and Hawthorn in the pointy end of the season.

Hawthorn averaged an astonishing 24 more points in 2024's home-and-away season, in comparison to 2023.

For Port Adelaide, the improvement has come from stemming the bleeding the other way, their average score in the home-and-away season actually slipping by one point, but conceding 20 fewer points a match this year.

There was heated and passionate discussion mid-season about the merits of different styles of football, particularly in the context of the AFLW, which is in a growth phase when it comes to attracting fans and encouraging support among the wider football world.

The Western Bulldogs' heavily defensive play lasted just one week after widespread criticism following their loss to Essendon.

Tam Hyett's team went on to win another two matches in their final three games, finishing a respectable 12th after a complete turnover of their football department over the off-season.

Regardless of how Port Adelaide performs against North Melbourne in its preliminary final, absolutely no one in the football world expected them to make it this far.

While there was belief that Webster's new game-plan, which encourages fast footy through controlled play, was going to send Hawthorn up the ladder, Port Adelaide has come from the clouds.

It's also no surprise that both coaches have graduated from the school of Brisbane champion leader Craig Starcevich, who's quietly creating his own coaching tree, a la Alastair Clarkson in the men's competition.

Another aspect to consider is the age of players driving this football – Shineah Goody, Matilda Scholz, Molly Brooksby and Piper Window were 12 in 2017, when the AFLW began.

Jas Fleming – a top pick who has truly become a star this year – was 13, and also spent most of her teenage years split between cricket and footy.

The fact that not only this style of football has been embraced, but has proven to be successful, can only be music to the ears of AFL House.

While there will always be natural restrictions based on squad capabilities, the best-case scenario will see the bottom 10 sides spending the summer planning sessions with a focus on attack.

After all, fifteenth to a prelim?

Just check out what they've done at Alberton.