North Melbourne has already made plenty of history during the 2024 rebel VFLW season.

The Kangaroos qualified for their first rebel VFLW finals series, recorded their first finals win with a 63-point thrashing of Essendon and then charged straight into their maiden rebel VFLW Grand Final by taking down minor premier Williamstown in the second semi.

Now as the biggest day of the VFLW season approaches against the Western Bulldogs at ETU Stadium on Sunday, the overriding feelings at Arden Street Oval are excitement and anticipation at what could be to come.

Brett Gourley may only be in his first year at the helm of the Kangaroos’ VFLW team but he has been with the club for five years and has played a big part in building the women’s program to one that played in their maiden AFLW decider last November and now climbed from a ninth-place finish in 2023 to the VFLW big dance just a year later.

“It’s really exciting. I’s been a long season for us and we’re just super grateful to be here,” Gourley said at the rebel VFLW Grand Final launch on Monday.

“North invests really heavily in women’s footy and I’ve been fortunate enough to be with the AFLW program since 2019, so I’m really fortunate to be in the position I am.

“The club has been really outstanding in terms of their support and the way they continue to promote and progress women's footy.”

The evenness of the rebel VFLW competition is best displayed by how North Melbourne won seven games last year and finished ninth on the ladder but rose to fourth this season with just one more victory.

The Roos this year recovered from a difficult run in the first half of the season having slipped to 3-5 after a narrow loss to Williamstown in Round 8.

“About round seven or eight we had what we called our line in the sand meeting and we sat down and focused on the key areas that we needed to improve and we were really open and honest about the areas that we needed to get better in,” Gourley said.

“We just analysed and studied really hard what we needed to do to get better. We knew that if we continued to focus on those things then we could turn the tables and be in the position that we are.”

North Melbourne’s off-season recruiting put the Kangaroos in a good position to fight back, with experienced heads such as Essendon premiership players Alana Barba and Renee Tierney joining in the summer, along with star midfielder Maddie Di Cosmo from Carlton.

The Roos also brought in Nyakoat Dojiok, Matilda Zander, Elisabeth Jackson, Nicole Hales, Sarah Hosking, Tricia Cowan, Sarah King and Charlotte van der Vlies, who all played in Collingwood’s Grand Final loss to Port Melbourne last season.

While not all of those will play on Sunday, their roles in helping the Roos recover from 11th just nine weeks ago to enter the premiership decider on the back of two dominant finals displays cannot be underestimated.

“All of them have been outstanding,” Gourley said.

“Barbs (Barba) and Renee (Tierney) in particular who have come in from AFLW level and brought a lot of experience with them.

“Nykie (Dojiok) is obviously an outstanding player as well. She has a wealth of experience, Mads (Di Cosmo) came across from Carlton and has been a contested bull for us in the midfield, so we were really fortunate to acquire them.

Gourley said he expected it to be a free-flowing Grand Final, with the losing team scoring more than 40 points in the two meetings between the sides during the home and away season.

North Melbourne prevailed 10.5 (65) to 6.7 (43) when the sides met at Mission Whitten Oval in the opening round, with the Bulldogs returning the favour 7.8 (50) to 6.7 (43) at Arden Street Oval in the final round, the only defeat North has suffered in the past eight matches.

“Both teams are naturally attacking. Both times we have played them in season have been free-flowing,” Gourley said.

“That’s the style of footy everyone likes to see and we’ve tried to build a progressive style of footy, an attacking brand of footy, and I’m sure that’s what we will see on the weekend as well.

“They’ve got really classy players through the midfield and some great defenders and obviously very capable and experienced forwards as well.

“We will have a look at the game from the weekend (the Bulldogs’ preliminary final thrashing of Williamstown) closely and also the last time we played them and look to improve and turn the result in our favour this time.”