MELBOURNE's tough 11-point semi-final win over Adelaide has paved the way for the Demons to confront their white whale next week: North Melbourne.
The undefeated Roos have won 25 on the bounce, and the Demons haven't had a crack at them since last season's 50-point loss back in their third match of that season, which happened to be the game that started the record-breaking run.
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Before Saturday, Melbourne hadn't won an AFLW final since its premiership in season seven, 2022, but now it's got one monkey off the back, it's ready to offload the whale.
"The pride and the capacity to dig deep and then for the penny to drop for the group, for things to click and then for them to feel that and go on with it, that was really important," Melbourne coach Mick Stinear said after Saturday's semi-final win.
"If we're going to be successful in a prelim, we needed that half of footy – not just to win the game, but to actually play as a team and function as a team. Lot harder to score against, which is important against North, less turnovers, which is important against North who make you pay.
"And then [there's] just that ability to work together, which is just going to be critical next week. I feel like not just the win (itself) set us up, but the way we played really set us up to make the most of the opportunity next week.
"In the off-season, you look at the benchmark team and you need to have a game style and a group of players that are going to be able to compete and contend and beat them. A lot of what we've designed is shaped around like Adelaide for nearly a decade, making sure we can beat them, [and] North in recent years. Have we got a team, have we got a game style that stacks up against them? And we believe we do.
"This afternoon was really important for things to come together. We need to be at our best, we certainly know that. They've been ruthless all year. They make you pay for any little mistakes.
"We feel like we're in a really good spot and we've been building towards this. And if you want to be the best, you've got to take it away from the best. So nothing but respect for North and what they've done and we'll have a group that's ready to challenge them and make the most of it."
Stinear – the Demons' coach in all 10 AFLW seasons – had a private moment of emotion on the bench after the siren.
"It's been a lot of love in the last couple of days for reaching 100 games (coached), but then obviously you don't want your season to come to an end – and probably at half-time, we weren't playing well," he said.
"We were really making it hard for ourselves; we kept turning the ball over and the fatigue was building up and then you can't execute fundamentals. Adelaide were able to score against us, and we were just a bit dishevelled at half-time.
"We were a lot stronger behind the ball (in the second half). We defended a lot better, and then we did a better job of using our numbers and then creatively using the ball on offence without fatiguing ourselves, without putting it straight back into a contest, and we were able to create scoring opportunities. You could feel the shift of the game and the belief grew from that, and then they just carried it right through the second half."
Dual-premiership coach Matthew Clarke's career at Adelaide has now come to an end, having signalled his intention to step down back at the start of the season.
"Immediately after a loss, you're a bit flat. But it's a really impressive group of people. I was excited to get involved in AFLW way back when (2019), I had seen the impact it had had on our club – it just made us better, ultimately," Clarke said.
"It was just the passion and energy there, and I thought I could help a little bit in regard to the football stuff.
"In terms of what I'm most proud of, it's the way they treat people, the way they make them feel internally, and then externally, anyone who becomes associated with our club just fall in love with our playing group. It's been really rewarding to be part of that and be the coach for an extended period."
Clarke joked that his immediate feeling was "a little bit hungry", but didn't have any other emotions after his final game in charge.
"This year became a bit of a circus, because we'd talked about it being my last year," he said.
"But I've just enjoyed it immensely. I'll reflect on not only this year, but every year that I've been fortunate enough to be the coach, has been tremendously enjoyable experience. We've chased success really hard, but we've been able to do that while still looking after people and building a culture that we're pretty proud of."
