MATTHEW Clarke stood in front of his charges and the message was blunt. "It starts at contest and it starts with tackle," the Adelaide senior coach said to his players. "You don't want to hear the tackle number; it's s**t… minus 10."

His team outplayed by Brisbane in the opening quarter of the 2021 NAB AFL Women's Grand Final, this crucial first break was no time for sugar-coating.

But interestingly, Clarke's message was hyper-specific. Over in the other huddle, Craig Starcevich's was too.

THE 2021 AFLW GRAND FINAL is now streaming in SOUND THE ALARM ON AFL ON DEMAND

Thanks to the incredible access offered in the AFL On Demand Original series 'Sound The Alarm', in which senior coaches are mic'd up during crunch finals encounters, the team addresses at quarter-time in the 2021 AFLW Grand Final demonstrate the competition's rapid evolution.

"You know how we talk about building our game on the back of pressure and tackling," Starcevich says as his Lions players gather for the coach's quick points of emphasis after a strong first term.  "Amazing: plus-48 pressure, plus-eight tackles."

The message that then followed might have been even more telling: "Down a little bit in clearances but [that's] not catastrophic."

THE 2021 AFLW GRAND FINAL is now streaming in SOUND THE ALARM ON AFL ON DEMAND

If that sounds familiar it's because it is. In recent years, pressure ratings and tackle differentials have been the advanced concepts that separate great teams from the rest at the pointy end of football. As seen in Richmond and Melbourne's surges in the AFL, clearance advantages have been willingly sacrificed for dominance in ferocity and numbers across the ground.

Starcevich, Clarke and their respective teams are right on-trend, then. And that's significant.

Brisbane's Cathy Svarc tackles Adelaide's Ailish Considine in the 2021 NAB AFLW Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos

Tactical approaches built on team pressing typically need time to develop. Requiring extreme team co-ordination and collective understandings of timing, such schemes can take seasons rather than weeks to develop. But AFLW sides haven't exactly been blessed with that of late.

THE 2021 AFLW GRAND FINAL is now streaming in SOUND THE ALARM ON AFL ON DEMAND

Like the rest of the competition's outfits, Brisbane and Adelaide battled another COVID-riddled year in 2021 off the back of 2020 being derailed. When you layer in the comparatively short seasons and preparation periods, the reality is that AFLW sides haven't had the time you'd typically need for team-pressing systems to fully develop.

And yet they're developing them anyway.

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich during the 2021 NAB AFLW Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos

"We have to own the corridor and balance the contest," Clarke emphasises to his Crows players as the defensive priorities in a transitional game plan. "[Then], we just take that field position, we go line of goal, and we press the s**t out of it."

Only metres away, Starcevich's message is remarkably similar: "The basis of our game is really, really solid right now. But we've got to maintain this rage."

If that sounds like elite footy, it's because it is.

Sound The Alarm takes you inside the coaches' box like never before. With privileged access to mic'd up senior coaches during the biggest games of all, this series is the fly-on-the-wall experience you've always wanted. From defining tactical shifts through to the emotional reactions and team addresses, you're now able to witness the inside story of high-stakes match days in this AFL On Demand Original series.