When Chantel Emonson stepped through the doors of GMHBA Stadium, it was at a turning point for the Club’s AFLW program.

Having finished 13th in a then 14-team competition the season prior, the Cats launched a strong, targeted recruiting campaign as they looked to start their climb up the ladder after a tough couple of seasons.

Claudia Gunjaca and Liv Fuller joined as pre-draft mature-age selections, having impressed in the Cats’ VFLW program earlier in the year, while Georgie Prespakis, Zali Friswell, Gabbi Featherston and Annabel Johnson – another VFLW Cat – joined on draft night.

The Cats looked to bring in experience, skill and leadership through the trade period, with Emonson coming across from Melbourne and Chloe Scheer crossing the border from Adelaide, while talented Irish multi-sport athlete Rachel Kearns joined as an Other Sport Rookie.

Emonson said with a few seasons together now, the connection between the players has flourished, which has led to a stronger brand of football.

“When I first joined, we were a very young team, but it’s been a consistent group of girls who have been here for the past few seasons, which I think has been very beneficial in developing that connection,” Emonson said.

“But I think it’s not just the girls, it’s the support staff that we have, the coaches, and those that are willing to put into the girls, and it’s also the girls being able to buy in, and that’s been a real big growth.

“Everyone is a couple of years older, which has that maturity level to it, and I think we’re seeing that now out on the field.”

A season after Emonson joined, another couple of Demons traded the red and blue for the Hoops, with experienced forwards Shelley Scott and Jackie Parry bringing more scoring prowess to GMHBA Stadium as the Cats looked to round out their game with a more damaging offence.

Working with the likes of Scheer and Kate Darby up forward, the pair’s ability to completement the team and boost the Cats’ attack soon became apparent, with a then-Club record score of 71 points in Round 5 of Season 7 showing what the team was capable of, before just the second 100-plus point score in AFLW history in Round 10 against Sydney.

While the 2023 season hasn’t yet produced a triple-figure game for the Cats, pleasingly the scoring has been more consistent, with an average of 45.5 points for per game, compared with 36.2 last season, and 24.2 in Season 6.

“When I got here, there was already a lot of growth, so I was able to just come in and come along for the ride,” Parry said.

“A lot of credit goes to Dan and the style he’s put into place to get us to be a high-scoring team.

“And credit also goes to our backs and our mids, because a lot of times the attack will start from defence, or it will come from the mids winning the clearance. So it’s just the role of the forwards to be able to create from the jobs that the other line groups do.”

For Emonson’s defenders, that job will be to bring their rebounding game against a strong Melbourne attack looking to bounce back after a tough fortnight.

While the Cats have built momentum over the past three weeks in particular – averaging 53 points for and just 21 points against over that time – the Demons have been defeated by strong Brisbane and North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos teams.

In the final against the Kangaroos, the Demons were held to just 1.3 for the game, and will look to come out firing with their season on the line in Sunday’s Semi Final.

Although the Cats and Demons will be facing off for just the second time in AFLW history this weekend – their earlier encounter only coming in Round 5 this year – the two teams have had a bit of history with player movement over the years.

The Cats have four former Demons on their list, in Emonson, Parry, Scott and Erin Hoare – who spent a year at Melbourne between stints with Geelong’s VFLW and AFLW teams – while Melbourne has two former AFLW Cats in Jordi Ivey and Liv Purcell.

Parry said the earlier game – her first against her former team – was a chance for her and the Cats to come up against the unknown, but they were better for the experience.

“I think the nerves were out probably in Round 5 when we played them, so we’ve got that under our belt, we were able to learn from that game, and it’s just another team this weekend,” Parry said.

“I think even after the game we discussed that we didn’t feel that the scoreboard accurately reflected the game that we put on, so I think we can take a lot of confidence from that and make sure that we can win the contested possession, we can bring tackle pressure and come out strong from the start.”

Emonson echoed the need to bring the pressure from the first bounce, saying the Cats had learned from their earlier encounter, and would be buoyed with how they responded to Essendon’s challenge in the first final.

“We played them for the first time earlier in the season, and we played Essendon last week, who we also lost to earlier in the year as well, and now (we face) Melbourne again, so we look back at those games and take a lot of learnings,” Emonson said.

“I think we’ve grown a lot since then as well.

“From their loss on the weekend, we expect them to come out firing. I’m sure the pressure around the footy from early on will be hot early on, and it will be a really contested game.

“It will be about who can control the footy the best in those early phases with the pressure being so high.”