Last season, Brisbane's Emily Bates won all three of the AFLW's individual awards; the league best and fairest, the players association MVP, and the coaches association champion player award.
This season, Brisbane won the minor premiership, and Bates again starred, ranking second in the team for disposals, contested possessions, clearances and tackles.
But Bates can see who is coming for her crown: Richmond's best player, Mon Conti. And she wants to shut her down in the finals this weekend.
'I'd love to have a crack at her'
Speaking on The W with Sharni and Sam podcast, Bates clearly holds Conti in the highest regard as a player.
"Mon Conti, we always speak about her; she's a player like no other, and in some great form as well," Bates said.
"I'd love to have a crack at her, I don't care if I get zero touches.
"She's such an influential player, so dampening her influence will go a long way to hopefully us getting that win."
While the assignment on Conti will likely go to her teammate Cathy Svarc — who is averaging nine tackles a game, good for third in the league — Bates is clearly eager to go head-to-head with the best.
It follows, then, that Conti is the player Bates is tipping to win the MVP this year.
"It's a tight race, obviously, between Mon Conti and [Jasmine] Garner," Bates said.
"I love both of their seasons, but I think the way that Mon moves … she's just such a smooth operator, beautiful skills, and I just love the way she goes about it, she always has a smile on her face.
"So, I think I'll go with Mon Conti."
Revenge is best served in the finals
The only blemish on Brisbane's home-and-away record this season is an 18-14 defeat to Richmond in late September.
They now have a chance to avenge that loss, and puncture the momentum of a Tigers team currently on an eight-match unbeaten streak.
"It's a new season, this finals series," Bates said.
"It's quite fitting that we're versing them in this first week.
"You never want to lose a game, but sometimes those losses are important in a season, and I think it just gave us that little bit of a reality check that things don't just happen, you have to go and win these games."
Bates is still smarting from that regular season stumble, where the Lions kicked a miserable 1.8.
"That game was an interesting sort of affair," she said.
"We won clearances, we won inside 50s, but we obviously didn't win on the scoreboard.
"To Richmond's credit, they had a great gameplan that day and shut down a lot of the things we wanted to do.
"I think it'll be a bit of redemption time for us. We're really excited to have another crack at them."
Lions like to 'hunt in packs'
The Lions are the fittest team in the comp, and Bates says they like flexing that aerobic supremacy, as they did in round 10, demolishing the Magpies by 45 points.
"We really showed our fitness levels, and the way we run in packs, and hunt in packs," she said.
"That's how we want to play."
Striving for that athletic advantage has become part of the Lions' identity.
"This off-season it was all about high-intensity running … any type of conditioning that replicated games," she said.
"And it's starting to pay off because we're finding, late in quarters, we can still go at that same intensity and apply that same pressure, whereas a lot of teams can't come with us.
"It's given us a lot of belief that we know we can run anyone off their legs.
"And it's even just the culture that we've created at the Lions; we're so competitive with each other … 'I want to start beating her at this', it's that healthy competition that makes everyone continually want to improve."
Although it is doubtful anyone is beating Bates in any kind of athletic contest.
"In the 2km [run] … I shaved just under 30 seconds off my PB," she said.
"Which was important for me because I knew I'd have to improve my running; obviously you cop a bit more attention after you win certain awards."
That extra MVP attention may be something Mon Conti has to deal with next season.
But to be the best, Richmond and Conti have to beat the best, and Bates and Brisbane are ready and waiting to prove they are just that.
