Across the last few seasons of AFLW, no team has come close to being more consistent than North Melbourne.
It’s an incredible thought, given their grand final opponents this weekend will be the Brisbane Lions — who are remarkably back for their seventh, yes, seventh, straight big dance.
But what the Kangaroos have built across the past two seasons pushes beyond anything the competition has seen before.
Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.
As they charge into the 2025 AFLW Grand Final — their third straight decider against Brisbane — they do so with a hardly believable streak of 26 consecutive wins.
Incredibly, 11 of those 26 wins have been by eight goals or more. It’s a run that has genuinely redefined what dominance looks like in the women’s game, given they haven’t lost since the 2023 grand final.
North’s list is layered with All-Australian calibre stars, hardened role players, and a system so well-tuned that, as recent history suggests, a win feels inevitable right from the very first bounce of each game.
To understand how North reached this level of inevitability though, you have to go back to where it all began.
The Roos, alongside Geelong, were given a licence from the AFL to join the competition in 2019 as part of the AFLW’s expansion beyond the initial eight clubs, and they’ve hardly skipped a beat since.
That early list strategy landed them one of the greatest players the competition has seen, Jasmine Garner.
The Kangaroos captain this season has been recognised with their eighth straight All-Australian blazer, becoming only the second woman to ever do so in the competition’s 10-season history.
The superstar midfielder was one of four players who left Collingwood for North Melbourne at the end of the 2018 season, as part of the AFLW’s expansion. She hasn’t played a single season at Arden Street without being selected in the All-Australian team.
And the only other player in the league’s history to be selected eight times? Club legend Emma Kearney, who was a stalwart through the competition’s first eight years.
The Kangaroos have turned stability into a weapon that can be deployed week in, week out. Their midfield depth is unmatched, with the AFLW’s most recent best and fairest winner Ash Riddell the nucleus of their on-ball brigade.
It was the Pub!’ Riddell reveals return | 05:15
The 29-year-old ball magnet averaged an eye-watering 35.3 disposals per game in season 2025, as well as over five clearances and four tackles a match. All in 17-minute quarters.
Ridiculous.
But as Fox Footy commentator and AFLW expert Chyloe Kurdas tells foxfooty.com.au, North Melbourne’s success with players and coaches started well before their inaugural season in 2019. A key program run by the club known as ‘The Huddle’ played an integral role in laying the foundations for the club’s now-admired culture.
“North Melbourne were very unlucky to not get a licence initially. In my previous role, where I spent 10 years at AFL Victoria as their female football development manager … what I can share, is that North was one of the first clubs to really get on board with female footy,” Kurdas said.
“In 2010 or 2011, Sonja Hood was the head of ‘The Huddle’ at the time. She was a great advocate for junior girls development programs and the work we did at AFL Victoria.
Sold out AFLW GF calls for bigger venue | 00:36
“She’s played a really significant role in evolving the culture at the footy club, so that it was going to be female-empowered and female-ready for the AFLW. Her daughter played junior footy at Melbourne Uni, so she understood as a parent and could see through the lens of her daughter what women and girls need in order to thrive in the footy context.
“She certainly brought lived experience into her role at North Melbourne, and how she was preparing North Melbourne for their crack at the AFLW.”
That early investment in women’s football had tangible effects on how the club operated. By the time AFLW licences were handed out, North Melbourne had already built structures, relationships and philosophies that mirrored what elite women required.
Unlike some other clubs who hastily applied for a women’s licence, North weren’t scrambling to adjust. It was more than ready, both culturally and operationally, to welcome a fully fledged AFLW program.
“When they did get their licence, by that stage, they already had Bridget Barker, Laura Kane, Lou Calluzi … people that had been at Melbourne University. It played a really critical role; that’s the pre-cursor as to how they built the squad, the staff and the players that cam together in 2019 when they got the licence,” Kurdas continued.
Laura Kane (left) now works as the AFL’s Executive General Manager of Football Operations, while Dr. Sonja Hood AM has been North Melbourne’s president since March of 2022.Source: Getty Images
“They got their club ready for 30-odd women, plus staff to come in and feel like they were treated in an equitable way, and that they had what they needed to thrive. All they needed to do was come and play footy; they didn’t have to worry about being treated equally at the club.
“Of all the clubs, they’re probably a club who’s been really gender-empowered and gender-ready for women to come into it.
Their iron-clad foundations made recruiting players to a brand new club much less daunting. While other clubs promised opportunity, North Melbourne could promise that, plus an environment where standards were nothing about women’s football felt secondary.
At the time in 2019, and even now, that distinction mattered.
“When you do all that groundwork, it’s much easier to recruit players. People will come, because they know they’ll be looked after from a cultural pesrepective. You’re able to attract first-choice talent; your Jamsine Garner’s and Emma Kearney’s,” Kurdas explained.
“Business as usual” as Lions prep for GF | 00:55
“They were able to attract a really good squad of players off the back of that.
“They value leadership, really good skills, and they valued people who wanted to play a role in building a culture at the club — and work rate as well. They’re almost boring to watch; they’re so predictable and consistent.”
North Melbourne’s on-field predictability is what could see them become the first-ever AFLW side to win back-to-back premierships, but again, it’s the off-field consistency that truly differentiates them.
Kurdas points out that some clubs, particularly in the early days, were still working out basic logistic equity. On the contrast, North eliminated the concept long before they became problems.
“They’re not having to worry about: ‘Does my swipe card work before 5pm?’. Some clubs had that, because they wouldn’t let women into the club while the men were still there, back in the day,” she said.
“That cultural stuff was being addressed by people with lived experience, and there were women in significant roles of influence. Also men, who were really great men — they leaned and listened into Sonja’s experience with her insights; as well as Laura and Lou … they were really understanding, empathetic and curious.”
“It’s not a surprise at all (with their success). When you build something with people that integrate the needs of the people you’re bringing in your club instead of later on … you can fast-track scoreboard success.
Ultimately, North Melbourne’s rise hasn’t been accidental. It’s the product of years of planning with the right people in optimal roles.
Their on-field dominance has come from work done close to a decade before they even entered the league, with a vision for the women’s game implemented before most others else saw it.
It’s led to the Roos becoming a home to so many superstars, recruited in a different sense to most across both the men’s and women’s competition.