The thunderous support nationwide for the AFLW grand final - a league only three years old - is about taking women playing football seriously.

As acclaimed sports journalist Gerard Whateley writes today: underestimate women's footy at your peril.

This is still just a hint at what the game could become with time as it continues to grow and develop.

Not even the AFL had any idea what was coming. League officials had anticipated a crowd of 22,000. Carlton coach Daniel Hardford said more than 13,400 watching the Blues' preliminary final last week was "pretty cool" and he had hoped for a few more. (READ MORE: 'One of the most significant moments in Australian football history')

Make no mistakes. The impact this has filtering down to club land, at the game's grassroots, is immense.

Girls and women have a game they can believe in. They are starting to make their own mark.

AFL Goldfields is preparing to field about 50 female teams across all age divisions this coming season. This is up from female 42 teams, juniors to open age, in action last winter.

Almost all clubs with female football programs sports a full complement of teams in all divisions. AFL Goldfields female football manager Krista Woodroffe said the league was working with clubs to make this possible across all clubs with female programs in the next season or so.

On top of this, AFL Goldfields will host three all-girls Auskick programs - Ballarat, Central Highlands and Melton - towards the end of the season. These have been attracting a combined 130 girls, not to mention those already pulling on the boots for Auskick with the boys.

For all those who continue to write off the women's game, led most vocally by former Carlton president John  Elliott, it is hard to see a valid argument stand up against the numbers and an evolution with such momentum.

This is not about comparing AFLW to their male counterparts because each league is so diverse and impressive in their own right. Although if you want a comparison, that thriller Western Bulldogs claw-back against Hawthorn at the MCG yesterday had an official crowd of 39,368 - yes AFLW was free, but if you are arguing that, you have missed the point that there is still a voracious appetite for the game.

Woodroffe says under-13 girls signing up to play can have clear ambitions to play AFLW, VFLW or NAB League just like boys their same age. Ballarat football export Sally Riley was an emergency for the Crows in this final. Riley, who also hail from Mount Clear College's strong female football program, won a premiership medallion with the Crows in the inaugural AFLW season.

Across all age groups, the overwhelming feedback gets from females coming from other sports is about the fun and supportive environment.

This is set at the top. We saw scenes of almost every Carlton player checking in on injured foe, Adelaide Crows captain Erin Phillips, an international-standard athlete, when she went down with a knee injury in the third term but still earned best on ground.

Such scenes have such positive ripple effects on game development, just watch as our own women and girls kick into action across the region this winter.

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