Ahead of the upcoming AFLW kick-off (pun definitely intended), Kat Sasso spoke with Fox Footy commentator and Collingwood star Ruby Schleicher and Swans co-captain Chloe Molloy on behalf of Missing Perspectives - and here's what they had to say about the upcoming season.
So what can we expect from the AFLW this season? According to Chloe, the last few years have shown just how much things have evolved.
"I think the the gap between the teams that were from the inaugural season versus all the expansion," she says, "I think that gap's getting smaller, and, you know, the margins even in the games... I think we reflect back a few years ago, and there were blowouts, but I don't think there's as many of them anymore, and I think that's kudos to the way we've invested in AFLW," Chloe says.
"I think the margin's getting way smaller, which I think you just never what way a game's gonna go because of how the competitive balance has evened out a bit more than what it once was," she continues. "So I think you'll expect really close games."
Chloe Molloy. Photo: Supplied
Chloe says that fans are in store to see "some of the most exciting talent coming through".
"And we're going to say that, yes, every time, but the the young whipper snippers that we've got coming through now are just natural footballers."
Ruby agrees, explaining that "it's just a more exciting brand of footy" and "it's gotten so much faster".
"I mean, from when me and Chloe first started playing, the speed of the game has just been incredible," she reflects. "You can really tell the difference of girls' bodies. And girls are coming into preseasons looking like athletes, and I think that's really going to show out on the field."
Both Chloe and Ruby are excited about the momentum building around women's sports right now, particularly off the back of the Olympics where Australia's female athletes drove the country's gold medal tally.
"I think last year was really exciting, sort of coming straight off the back of the Matildas, and almost trying to ride that wave," Ruby says.
"So you know, to be on the biggest stage that we're able to be on and represent women at the highest level for our sport, it's not something we take lightly, and it's like a real honour, but it's also something we want to do justice in. As much as we're working towards team success, it's definitely not unnoticed what's put on our shoulders as women that are in this position, and we definitely want to do justice to that as well."
Ruby Schleicher. Photo: Supplied
Obviously AFLW has made massive strides, particularly over the last year which saw equal prize money to be split between the men and women's teams - but what other progress needs to be made?
Chloe says there's now an opportunity for players to show live audiences what they've got now that the "investment" in them has been made.
"We've got the investment," Chloe says. "Yes, we still have ways to go and further in that. But I think now it kind of falls back on, a little bit of onus on players to get [people down] to the game, and they perform and give an experience that you wouldn't get watching on TV. Obviously, flick the TV on, watch it, but get down to games as well."
Ruby agrees, saying that in terms of the "next step for AFLW, for us as players, we've made a huge step in now playing training during the days, a few times a week, and stuff like that, which is incredible when you see where we've come from... But the next step is having more full-time staff and more access to them. We don't have all of our coaches full-time.
"Our the head coaches would be, but then the club have to decide where they're going to put their resources in. We don't have full-time high performance staff. We don't have full-time coaches to support our head coach."
Ruby believes these changes would be very beneficial, as the full-time coaches would then be "resources that we then are able to reach out to".
"Ad we know they're on the clock and they're not having to support themselves doing other work, just like we have been for the last eight years."
For the first time, the AFLW season opener is going to be played outside of Victoria, which Chloe describes as "huge" and something that gives her an "immense sense of pride".
Chloe Molloy and Ruby Schleicher. Photo: Supplied
So what does that mean for the Swans and the game in NSW?
"The match day experience at Sydney have been able to get the marketing, the investment," says Chloe.
"I don't think you know, if you asked me a year ago, when we're just coming up – we hadn't won a single game against the Giants –and if you were to tell me, 'Oh, next year, you'll be opening the season against Collingwood,' I probably would have given you quite a funny look," she says. "I think it just shows the evolution of AFLW, shows where it's heading."
So how can the AFLW increase visibility and get more fans down to the games each week? "That's a big question. There's obviously a lot of ways that you can do that. They've taken the first step to that, which is the compressed fixture and placing that in school holidays," says Ruby.
"Every team is going to be going through it, but we're putting the games in time slots and in places that kids are able to come down to. And I think that's one thing that obviously the AFLW has found its spot now, just off the back of the men's season."
A lot of people love to say that women's sport as a product isn't as good as men's sport - and Chloe and Ruby are obviously quick to disagree.
"I think people try to take those first couple years where you've literally got girls who have footy, doctors who are finishing their uni degrees, girls working full-time, girls who haven't kicked a footy in years, you know that have dusted off the boots to get back out there and expect, you know?" says Ruby.
"I think people hold on to that, and I'd go, 'Come back down'. Like every person that you know hasn't watched an AFLW game that then comes down, actually watches it in person," says Ruby.
"They go, 'You girls go hard'. And that is across the board. Like people were blown away when they actually come down to a game, because it's almost like TV that doesn't give it justice. Sometimes you need to be there," she says.
"And that's the great thing about AFLW. That it's got that community feel, you feel closer than you do in the men's – you're right up in the action. The game's growing as well," she adds.
"We're only just getting to a position where girls aren't having to come straight from work. It's still happening. Girls still have to do that, but some days they don't have to. And so watch the product change as well. And don't hold us to you know what those first couple years were, where we were still figuring out ourselves."
Every game of the 2024 AFLW season is live and ad-break-free during play available on Fox Sports and Kayo.