Adelaide triple premiership superstar Erin Phillips will be Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFLW captain. Photo: AFL MEDIA

Australia’s elite professional women footballers got what they wanted: a season played in a more hospitable climate than the brutally hot summers of the last six, and one which runs — at least for a month and change — alongside the professional men’s competition.

AFLW season seven unfolds this week, with a full 18 teams running out, and only four-and-a-half since Adelaide was crowned premiers for the third time after it defeated Melbourne.

And in the interim, a dizzying flurry of player movement in trades and signings has occurred.

The iconic Erin Phillips, so long the face of both the Crows and indeed the competition, defected from Adelaide to Port Adelaide, where she’ll captain the club her father Greg once skippered.

Gemma Houghton, Fremantle’s all-time AFLW goalkicker joins Phillips. Meanwhile, Maddy Prespakis, the league’s 2020 best-and-fairest winner and Carlton 2022 club champion is now a Bomber, headlining a mass exodus of seven players from the underachieving Blues.

While AFLW expands by four clubs, this season’s fixture will remain at 10 home-and-away matches, but the league will also expand its finals series from three weeks to four weeks and, like the AFL, the top eight sides will qualify for finals, up from six.

The competition is bigger, but will it be better? Skills and overall quality of play has markedly improved from the league’s infancy, but the addition of four new clubs thins the talent pool, as it would in any other professional sporting competition.

The earlier 2022 campaign also saw several marquee players suffer knee injuries that prematurely ended their seasons, and not all have fully recovered. Fatigue will be a factor.

While this season is sure to excite, inevitable growing pains leaguewide may leave some in the industry saying the old maxim, “Be careful what you wish for.”

CARLTON v COLLINGWOOD (Princes Park, Thursday 7.10pm local time)
Surely the footy deities couldn’t be sadistic enough to concoct another Carlton fiasco just one week after its men spectacularly wilted against their arch rivals — but with women as the stars and playing supporting roles, could they? Truth is, Collingwood, a 2022 finalist, should win rather comfortably in the traditional opener between the two sides. The Pies will be without injured star midfielders Brianna Davey and Britt Bonnici for the entire season, but have sufficient depth through the guts, a strong backline and a solid addition up forward with former Cat Olivia Barber. Inconsistent Carlton finished eighth on the ladder, with Rising Star winner Mimi Hill as the brightest light. The Blues must put its mega talented half-forward Darcy Vescio in a position where they get enough possessions to make the impact on matches they did for the first years of their career.
GIL TIPS: Collingwood

ADELAIDE v MELBOURNE (Norwood Oval, Friday 7.10pm local time)
What could be better in Round 1 than a grand final rematch? The reigning premiers may have lost a founding mother in Phillips, but are by far the competition’s deepest club, with a formidable array of almighty weapons. The Crows are characteristically a tough, physical side and feature a dominant, dynamic duo of ball-winners in Anne Hatchard and Ebony Marinoff, while Ash Woodland kicked a league-leading 19 goals in the just-completed season. The Dees are equally dangerous and brimming with talent — notably midfielder Karen Paxman and key forward Tayla Harris – and once again will be led by their inspirational captain, Daisy Pearce. It promises to be a cracking match, but once again Adelaide will reign supreme, just.
GIL TIPS: Adelaide

NORTH MELBOURNE v GOLD COAST (Blundstone Arena, Saturday 1.10pm local time)
This clash pits a perennial finals side in the Kangaroos against one of the league’s biggest and unexpected improvers the Suns — at least through the first six rounds of last season. Gold Coast dropped out of the finals race with a debilitating four-match losing streak to end the season, while North failed to advance beyond the first week of the finals. North boasts a super strong midfield brigade, led by Ash Riddell and Jenna Bruton, while the Suns have talented youngsters Charlie Rowbottom in the midfield and Lauren Bella in the ruck. The Roos were hit nearly as hard by defections as Carlton, losing winger Kaitlyn Ashmore, and small forward powder kegs Daria Bannister and Daisy Bateman. Still, North has the experience and home ground advantage to comfortably win this one.
GIL TIPS: North Melbourne

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WEST COAST v PORT ADELAIDE (Lathlain Park, Saturday 1.10pm local time)
This calendar year has been dismal for West Coast fans, as its women were wooden spooners and its men just narrowly avoided a similar fate. It certainly hasn’t helped the Eagles’ AFLW side to have three of their best players, Mikayla Bowen, Grace Kelly, and Niamh Kelly, all depart in the off-season for other clubs. The Power, one of four expansion clubs, were easily the most aggressive at the recruiting table, luring Phillips, Houghton, and midfielders Kate Surman from Gold Coast, and Justine Mules from Adelaide. Look for Port to start its existence with a bang.
GIL TIPS: Port Adelaide

SYDNEY v ST KILDA (North Sydney Oval, Saturday 5.10pm local time)
Once again, the Saints had a flaccid offensive output last season, scoring the fewest points of any club in the comp, averaging just a little over 21 points per match. They’ve taken steps to address their forward line by importing the exciting Nic Stevens from Carlton and Grace Kelly from West Coast, but St Kilda lost a crucial midfielder in Tilly Lucas-Rodd, who crossed to Hawthorn. Sydney, meanwhile, landed its No.1 draft target, midfielder Montana Ham, who’ll patrol the guts with former Bulldog Brooke Lochland. The Swans also added former Giant Rebecca Privitelli and ex-Pie Aliesha Newman to their forward line. The Saints have fared so poorly recently, it’s hard to see them winning on the road, straight out of the gate, with the Swans operating on the excitement of making history at home.
GIL TIPS: Sydney

ESSENDON v HAWTHORN (Marvel Stadium, Saturday 7.10pm local time)
This is the only match of the round to feature two debutant clubs in what should be a fascinating battle. Essendon, desperate for some semblance of respectability for its reputation after an awful men’s season that saw the sacking of its senior coach, looks strong on paper for a first-year club. Recruiting Prespakis was a coup, but the Bombers also added strong forward talent in former Bulldog Bonnie Toogood, ex-Blue Georgia Gee and Bannister, while also landing talented ex-Fremantle winger Steph Cain. The Hawks, for their part, also attracted notable recruits, starting with their senior coach, Bec Goddard, who led the Crows to the AFLW’s inaugural premiership. Hawthorn also swooped on the talented Ashmore, clearance specialist Lucas-Rodd and forwards Tegan Cunningham from Melbourne and Sarah Perkins from Gold Coast, a veteran of that inaugural premiership Adelaide side. Look for Essendon to play with plenty of passion to give its fans something sorely needed to cheer about.
GIL TIPS: Essendon

WESTERN BULLDOGS v GWS (Princes Park, Sunday 12.10pm local time)
The Bulldogs were a late chance to grab the sixth and last finals berth last season, but dropped two of their last three matches and narrowly finished ahead of this round’s opponent, the Giants. GWS boasts prolific Irish goalkicker Cora Staunton, who at age 40 continues her almighty defiance of Father Time. But unfortunately for the Giants, her foil, star recruit Isabel Huntington — who GWS lured from the Doggies — is out for the season with a torn ACL. That could prove costly, as the Giants were known last year for hitting dry scoring patches. The losses of Toogood and Huntington hurts the Bulldogs’ own firepower, but they are a feisty bunch, led by star captain Ellie Blackburn.
GIL TIPS: Western Bulldogs

BRISBANE v FREMANTLE (Gabba, Sunday 2.10pm local time)
The Lions’ defence of their 2021 premiership died on the grass of the MCG against a slightly better Demons side, but Brisbane will be no less hungry to reclaim its place as queen of the AFLW jungle. The Lions already have achieved one big win in that their departures from were minimal. The Dockers can’t make that claim, as they lost both Houghton and Cain. Brisbane boasts 2022 AFLW best-and-fairest winner Emily Bates in its midfield, and several other 2022 All-Australians, including winger Orla O’Dwyer and forward Greta Bodey. While Fremantle All-Australian captain Hayley Miller will be fit and firing, her star teammate Ebony Antonio — arguably the Dockers’ most valuable player of the past season — is in danger of missing the entire season because of a PCL injury. Perennial Dockers star Kiara Bowers will have to shake off rust from illness that caused her to miss the team’s final practice match. It’s very hard to see a relatively depleted Fremantle side traveling cross-country and matching it with a team of Brisbane’s calibre.
GIL TIPS: Brisbane

GEELONG v RICHMOND (Kardinia Park, Sunday 4.10pm local time)
Richmond seemed poised before the start of the last season to challenge for a finals spot, and its stars, Katie Brennan, Mon Conti and Rebecca Miller, all enjoyed All-Australian seasons, but injuries and inconsistency took the Tigers out of the top-six equation. Geelong finished 12th, one rung below Richmond, despite unleashing the talented Georgie Prespakis, Maddy’s younger sister, and enjoying excellent seasons from Amy McDonald and Maddy McMahon. The Cats’ season was doomed by its failure to impact the scoreboard, registering the comp’s third-fewest points. Richmond has too much talent and too much motivation to improve to drop this one.
GIL TIPS: Richmond