This will be the last time AFL women will be purely an exhibition spectacle because next year, women will finally have a national league of their own.

In some ways this may have felt like the women’s game has burst into the spotlight really fast but really, the league has been far too long in the making.

Watch it and you will see.

As much as it feels strange leaping from the AFL home-and-away season into seemingly foreign lull before finals, the spotlight should be bright on the All-Stars clash between Western Bulldogs and Melbourne, under new lights at Whitten Oval.

Women on field are the best in the game but most will be playing to earn a spot with a foundation club for the inaugural women’s league. They are more than hungry in this opportunity for exposure – they want to be part of a massive historic chapter and will be out there to show it.

For Ballarat’s Kaitlyn Ashmore, the match will be a chance to prove to Queensland why she one of the hardest running midfielders in the women’s game. Ashmore was named on Thursday evening as the Brisbane Lions’ second priority pick.

The Melbourne University premier league player has earned a place in the new emerging era of the women’s game. Ashmore joined Melbourne via the inaugural AFL women’s draft in 2013 and was re-drafted to the Western Bulldogs last year.

She has since become an ambassador at the Kennel in the club’s new ties with Ballarat in an expanding Western Front and in promoting youth girls football about the region.

This weekend will be Ashmore’s final outing – for now – as a Bulldog. She starts afresh in her football journey and is a leading example for players in the Goldfields’ booming youth girls ranks of an elite pathway that really can take you places.

A promising javelin thrower, Ashmore played high school football for Mount Clear College, then some senior games for the now-defunct North Ballarat Eagles.

She found a drive to pursue the game to its highest levels, moving to Melbourne Uni to play premier ranks and reach state teams.

The game has improved and evolved with her.

An incredible Australian Story, aired on the ABC earlier this week, entwined the journeys of now-Collingwood marquee player Moana Hope and Western Bulldogs vice-president Susan Alberti and their drive in the game. Alberti posed the question “why haven’t we got women playing AFL football? It’s not a privilege – it’s a right”.

There is still a long way to go in building the elite women’s game.

A big part of that comes back to this weekend. Watch the women’s game, enjoy it, analyse it and importantly, keep talking about it.

The United States’ NFL takes a week before the Super Bowl for an all-star Pro Ball, adding hype in play-offs. 

This AFL Women’s match could be just the action AFL fans need before finals – and a cliff-hanger finale to leave you hanging out for the new season next year.