Brisbane are taking nothing for granted when they lock horns with rivals Adelaide in an AFLW preliminary final.
The reigning premiers have one final hurdle to clear to reach their third grand final in as many years and it is their favourite dance partner standing in the way.
For the 13th time in the women's competition and the ninth in finals, the Lions will go face-to-face with perennial heavyweights Adelaide at Brighton Homes Arena on Saturday.
The two sides have beaten each other in grand finals - Adelaide claiming the first-ever AFLW flag in 2017 before Brisbane returned the favour in 2021.
Past results also skew in the Lions' favour, with Craig Starcevich's side having won nine of their past 12 matches.
But inaugural coach Starcevich knows better than to expect an easy win, pointing to the fact that their past three matches have been won by a total of seven points.
"The games are always down to the wire, which is again, both daunting and exciting in the same breath," Starcevich said on Friday.
"We've come from behind to beat them. They've done probably something similar to us over the journey at some point.
"The closeness of the battles, more than the actual ledger at the moment, is probably what we're focused on."
Such is the tightness of their past skirmishes that Starcevich admits he doesn't know where the odds lie.
"Look, our methods are really, really similar," he said.
"It could be any one of our 21 bob up and make a difference on the day.
"Having said that, I'm looking at them right now and they're getting an equal spread of contributors as well.
"It's hard to determine what's going to be the difference to the odds."
Both squads enter their preliminary final unchanged.
Containing star ball winners Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard, and sharpshooter Caitlin Gould will be top of the agenda for the Lions.
The combined powers of Marinoff (31 touches, one goal), Hatchard (27, one) and Gould (two goals) almost delivered the Crows victory over Brisbane in September, only for Taylor Smith to kick a last-gasp match-winner.
Reaching the grand final will put Brisbane in a position to match Adelaide's three premierships, but Starcevich says he doesn't care much for bragging rights.
"That's not on the line tomorrow," Starcevich said.
"To chase that down a bit, it's a long-term goal, I guess, but for us tomorrow, it's getting the result."
