The 17 other AFLW clubs will be chasing the premiership cup currently in Melbourne and Kate Hore’s possession. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

In last season’s crowning snapshot, the Daisy Pearce-driven Demons are hoisting the AFLW premiership cup after vanquishing the Lions on Brisbane’s home ground.

It was Melbourne’s maiden flag, and the Lions’ third grand final loss. Pearce is primed Friday night to help ceremoniously unfurl that flag, but aside from her retirement, the Dees’ list is mostly intact.

That can’t be said for Brisbane, or several other clubs, after heaps of big names swapped jumpers in the AFLW’s most dizzying off-season sign-and-trade period.

This season’s biggest question might not be whether Melbourne can successfully defend its flag, but rather, will the bevy of off-season player moves cause a seismic shift on the ladder?

ADELAIDE
The Crows have won three of their four grand final appearances, but last season lost a preliminary final to Brisbane. Despite Ash Woodland — one of the comp’s most prolific goalkickers — defecting to arch rival Port Adelaide, the Crows have a steel spine, with Caitlin Gould in the ruck, contested possession queens Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard in the middle with tough-as-nails Chelsea Randall, Chelsea Biddell down back, and Danielle Ponter up forward. With Woodland’s departure, Ponter and Gould — the club’s second and third leading goalkickers respectively — must now shoulder more of the load.

BRISBANE
The Lions were once again the comp’s bridesmaids, and they’ve been licking more wounds ever since. Hawthorn poached two of their biggest stars — All-Australian small forward Greta Bodey and 2022 AFLW best-and-fairest winner Emily Bates. Then, in a four-club mega trade, Brisbane dealt its All-Australian goalkicker Jess Wardlaw to St Kilda after kicking a club record 22 goals last campaign. Exciting young forward Zimmi Farquharson is inactive this season due to personal reasons, while season six grand final best-on-ground winner Kate Lutkins will miss because of pregnancy. The Lions still have a highly capable nucleus in reigning AFLW best-and-fairest Ally Anderson, Orla O’Dwyer, Courtney Hodder and Dakota Davidson, but their prospects of topping the ladder are greatly diminished.

CARLTON
For the past few seasons, the Blues have put the “fun” in dysfunctional. Carlton finished 14th last season with just two wins. Sacked coach Daniel Harford has been replaced by Matthew Buck. Carlton has added former Richmond defender Harriet Cordner, but will have mostly the same squad, featuring Abbie McKay, Mimi Hill and Breann Moody as standouts. One of Buck’s biggest tasks will be how best to deploy versatile star Darcy Vescio, a player who, when in peak form, is one of the comp’s most electrifying.

COLLINGWOOD
The Pies’ season seven campaign ended in unceremonious style with just a solitary goal in its semi-final loss to Adelaide. Collingwood played last season without two injured star midfielders, Britt Bonnici and co-captain Breanna Davey, who’ll be back Friday night against Melbourne in the 2023 opener. But the Pies’ sign-and-trade-period losses far outweigh their returns. Electric small forward Chloe Molloy bolted for Sydney, then in a blockbuster trade, Collingwood shipped both its inaugural captain Steph Chiocci and leading ball winner from last season Jaimee Lambert to St Kilda. Losing three A-graders isn’t ideal for a club hoping to rise from sixth spot.

ESSENDON
Of all four first-year clubs to debut last season, the Bombers finished the highest (10th). Having superstar Maddi Prespakis, an Essendon supporter since birth, certainly helped as she earned All-Australian honours. This is an emerging side with veteran talent in clearance specialist Steph Cain, goalkicking forwards Bonnie Toogood and Daria Bannister, and American one-percenter maven Danielle Marshall. If the Bombers get off to a flyer and build confidence, making the top eight isn’t too far-fetched.

FREMANTLE
Player departures, key injuries and flagging morale sank the Dockers, who slid from fifth to 12th – the biggest drop of any club from season six to seven. Coach Trent Cooper, who led Fremantle to the only undefeated home-and-away campaign in league history in 2020, was sacked in favour of Lisa Webb. Stalwart midfielders Kiara Bowers and Hayley Miller power Fremantle, while goalkicking Irishwoman Aine Tighe was a revelation. Star winger Ebony Antonio, limited to two matches last season due to injury, likely returns for Round 1, but Fremantle must leapfrog too many other clubs to earn a finals berth.

GEELONG
The surprising Cats traded ladder positions with the Dockers last season as the comp’s biggest improvers, catapulting from 12th to fifth, before falling to North Melbourne by less than a kick in a thrilling elimination final. Geelong has an All-Australian trio in Amy McDonald, Georgie Prespakis and Chloe Scheer. Kicking 1.8 in a heartbreaking finals loss to North means Geelong will have to find additional avenues to goal besides Scheer and Shelley Scott to challenge for a top four spot.

GOLD COAST
Rising to ninth from 10th on the ladder may appear to show only incremental progress, but the Suns are far from the easybeats they once were. In season six, Gold Coast was second worst in the comp for points conceded and fourth worst for points scored, but significantly improved last season in both areas. Charlie Rowbottom is fast becoming one of the league’s brightest young stars, Lauren Bella again was one of the AFLW’s best rucks and the club added goalsneak Jordan Membrey in a trade with Collingwood. Coach Cameron Doyle has had the club playing with more passion since his arrival and slipping into the finals this year isn’t beyond his players.

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
The only consistent thing about the Giants the last few seasons has been their inconsistency. In season seven they finished 11th, down from ninth the prior campaign. While Alyce Parker and Alicia Eva have been standouts, GWS lost its age-defying Irish goalkicker Cora Staunton — who at times carried the entire scoring load on her back — to retirement. That’s a worrying sign for a club whose scoring percentage last season was the comp’s third worst. A quiet sign-and-trade period doesn’t inspire much added belief in the Giants’ ability to improve.

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HAWTHORN
Even with a 3-4 win loss record with three home-and-away matches left, the Hawks were a slight chance to sneak into the top eight, but dropped two of those matches by a combined total of six points to miss out. Hawks supporters, though, must be encouraged by management plucking All-Australians Bodey and Bates from Brisbane, then drafting athletic Northern Territory utility Mattea Breed. Tilly Lucas-Rodd shone brightly last season in the brown and gold and Bodey and Bates bring talent and leadership to the young Hawks, who’ll hope to improve on their bottom-four finish in season seven.

MELBOURNE
A dynasty might be on the cards with these reigning premiers, largely because their star-studded list didn’t take any major hits. Any club that boasts luminaries such as All-Australian Olivia Purcell running through the midfield alongside Eliza West — arguably last season’s grand final best on ground — and All-Australians Kate Hore and Tayla Harris up forward, along with stalwart Karen Paxman and running machine Alyssa Bannan, is deadly dangerous. Besides the stars, simple math reveals truth — the Dees scored the comp’s second greatest point tally while conceding the fewest. Melbourne has every reason to be confident of back-to-back flags.

NORTH MELBOURNE
The Kangaroos’ inability to reach a grand final in the last few seasons despite having one of the most talented lists has been maddening. Their biggest stars are household names: Jasmine Garner, Emma Kearney, Jenna Bruton, Ash Riddell and Tahlia Randall. In season seven, North Melbourne finished a surprisingly low eighth on the ladder. After its epic two-point elimination final win over Geelong, the Roos cruised to a semi-final win over Richmond, only to get dismantled by the Demons the next week in a preliminary final. North Melbourne did well to acquire Saints goalkicker and best-and-fairest winner Kate Shierlaw to partner with Randall, but it will be for nought if they make another sluggish start to the season.

PORT ADELAIDE
After poaching league legend Erin Phillips from crosstown rival Adelaide and installing her as captain, then luring Fremantle champion Gemma Houghton, the Alberton crowd dreamed of a special Power maiden season. Instead, it was a nightmare. The Power won just one match and drew another. Inexplicably, Phillips — seventh on the AFLW’s all-time goalkicking table — kicked 0.6 for the season, while Houghton, Fremantle’s greatest goalkicker, managed just four matches due to injury. Nabbing Woodland from the Crows should ease pressure on Phillips and Houghton to hit the scoreboard, while acquiring former All-Australian Docker Janelle Cuthbertson will help stabilise Port’s backline.

RICHMOND
By virtue of their meteoric rise from 11th to fourth on the ladder, the young Tigers were last season’s biggest improvers. But they couldn’t match it with a dominant Brisbane side after the first quarter in their qualifying final, then ran out of petrol in their semi-final the following week against North Melbourne who smashed the Tigers by six goals. Captain Katie Brennan led the charge up the ladder, flanked by All-Australian stars Courtney Wakefield and Mon Conti. While Wakefield retired after her superb season, in her stead Richmond recruited St Kilda’s Caitlin “G-Train” Greiser, who brings valuable experience. Eilish Sheerin, Ellie McKenzie and Gabrielle Seymour are just some of the other valuable contributors to a Tigers team that’s a strong chance to earn the double chance again.

ST KILDA
The Saints beat up on two first-year clubs to start their season, but then the bottom soon dropped out with mounting losses — including four in their last five games — en route to a 13th-place finish. St Kilda was not a high-scoring team in season seven, so trading in Wardlaw to replace Greiser makes sense. Unfortunately for Wardlaw, she won’t have Shierlaw. The good news for Wardlaw, and Saints fans, is that Chiocci and Lambert have been added to their midfield, and the former Collingwood pair can reliably deliver the ball. Still, senior coach Nick Dal Santo will be challenged to try and get his beloved club on the right path.

SYDNEY
The young Swans looked overmatched in every way from the start of their maiden campaign, and they took their lumps, going winless and claiming the wooden spoon. To their credit, the Swans brains trust successfully reeled in two stars to help —Molloy and Lucy McEvoy from Carlton. Sydney also added former Cat Laura Gardiner. The ongoing on-field development of Montana Ham, who the Swans drafted at No.1 before season six, will be interesting watching. Still, the Bloods will continue to struggle.

WEST COAST
Only dismal seasons by first-year clubs Port Adelaide and Sydney kept the Eagles from finishing bottom. Injuries hit hard, but so did the maths: West Coast scored the second-fewest points and conceded the second most. Warrior Emma Swanson soldiered on, but neither she nor Aisling McCarthy could shoulder the entire load. Promising talent Amy Franklin was a good get at the trade table, but an otherwise quiet period doesn’t inspire confidence in the Eagles flying high this season.

WESTERN BULLDOGS
The Doggies came out snarling last season at exactly the right time, rallying for three consecutive wins to get themselves into finals action. Once there, they fell just one minute and a straight kick short of toppling Collingwood in an elimination final. Captain Ellie Blackburn and fellow veterans Kirsty Lamb and Alice Edmonds were inspirational in their run home and nearly willed their side to the second week of finals. With a quiet sign-and-trade period, the Bulldogs are counting on the continued development of players like Rylie Wilcox, Elisabeth Georgiostathis and Gabby Newton to improve. The Dogs’ tenacity will keep them in the top eight.

ROUND ONE

MELBOURNE v COLLINGWOOD (Ikon Park, Friday 7.20pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: MELBOURNE

CARLTON v GOLD COAST, (Ikon Park, Saturday 1.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: GOLD COAST

ADELAIDE v PORT ADELAIDE (Norwood Oval, Saturday 3.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: ADELAIDE

GEELONG V WESTERN BULLDOGS (GMHBA Stadium, Saturday 5.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: WESTERN BULLDOGS

HAWTHORN v ESSENDON, (Frankston, Saturday 7.15pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: ESSENDON

NORTH MELBOURNE V ST KILDA (Blundstone Arena, Sunday 1.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: NORTH MELBOURNE

SYDNEY v GWS, (North Sydney Oval, Sunday 3.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: GWS

BRISBANE v RICHMOND (Brighton Homes Arena, Sunday 3.05 pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: BRISBANE

FREMANTLE v WEST COAST (Fremantle Oval, 5.05pm local time)
GIL’S TIP: FREMANTLE