Adopted Canberran Radan's Adelaide Crows got the win over her national capital counterpart Britt Tully's GWS Giants on Saturday, but the first round of the inaugural AFL Women's competition was about so much more.

The players in the AFLW competition are far more than part-time footballers taking a break from their normal jobs - they are role models sorely needed in a sport that has for so long been a one-gender street.

"I know that the six-year-old version of me would be pretty excited to know that I'd be able to [play in the AFLW] one day so I hope that it inspires a lot of the young girls to do the same," Radan said.

"Seeing the amount of young girls that were out there as well as young boys, at the game [on Saturday], that's really, really nice to see. Also the fact that girls or boys can equally look up to us as role models as well.

"I would have loved to have had some female sport role models when I was that age, but unfortunately we probably didn't have enough coverage of some of the sports and it just didn't really exist.

"Certainly that was a really rewarding thing yesterday, to be able to run around the boundary after the win and see young girls and young boys there. It doesn't matter if you're a young girl or boy, you can both aspire to play at that level."

Giants midfielder Tully admits she was "nervous and scared" as she watched Carlton and Collingwood write another chapter in their historic rivalry in the season opener on Friday night.

But as soon as the first bounce at Thebarton Oval launched her club on a new journey in front of 9250 fans the next day, she knew she was in "the big time" and the impact the players would have as athletes dawned on her.

"We did a fan day during the week and it's just crazy that these little girls are just coming up wanting you to sign their little notebooks," Tully said.

"I'm just glad they have something to strive for now."