While we’re not far removed from North Melbourne’s inclusion into the AFLW, the landscape of the competition has drastically changed since the start of the 2019 season.

The man tasked with building the inaugural Kangaroos list, Rhys Harwood, has been in prime position to see the competition’s improvement over the last few years in his current position of AFLW performance and talent manager.

He says the club’s selection of Tess Craven with the 13th pick of the 2021 NAB AFLW Draft is a clear indication of how the game is evolving.

"I think there’s more players now who’ve played for a long time, and their skills and decision-making are naturally better of improving. Tess is as football smart and skilful as I’ve seen for a while,” Harwood said on the ‘Happy Dais’ podcast.

"There’s a big crop coming through but it does change every year … there’s players who have played for a lot longer.

"You see that across the competition, the product now compared to at the start is like a different sport. The way teams are playing is so different but it's improving very quickly.”

The rapid improvement of the quality of players available across the competition has allowed each team to further form its own on-field identity according to Harwood.

“In the first couple of years teams played pretty similarly I think, but now teams are wildly different …  you can go to any game and see what the teams are trying to do,” he said.

“It’s a lot based on coaching philosophies and breaking it down into how you want to move the ball, the contest, and team defence and bringing it all together.

“That’s probably my favourite part of AFLW now is how different each team’s strategy is."

Listen to the latest episode of the Happy Dais podcast here or watch in the player above.