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Carlton are the form side but Brisbane have done what they can to prepare themselves for a fast-tracked AFLW semi-final.
Brisbane AFLW captain Emma Zielke had almost convinced herself their season was over.
But when the good news on a re-jigged format which included them finally came, the skipper was quick to tap the brains of several close connections as they hastily prepared for Sunday's semi-final against Carlton.
The Lions (3-2-1) qualified for the fast-tracked finals series thanks to sitting third in their conference, with the Blues (5-1) second and riding a four-game winning streak.
The threat of coronavirus left the competition's future in the air until Thursday, but Zielke said the side was well prepared.
"The longer it went on, the more we thought it might be canned, then we got that news and now we're playing finals footy," she said.
She said former Blues talent Lauren Arnell and current Lion Ally Anderson, best friends with Blues star and former Lion Tayla Harris, have made the scout easy.
"Loz has been great, sending through updates about players and things to look out for," she said.
"Her (Harris') best mate is Ally Anderson so Ally's been giving us all the goss this week as well.
"She's (Harris) going to crash every pack, launch at everything.
"We match up pretty well, it's 50-50 including a draw ... we've got to shut down their key players and game play as much as possible."
Brisbane played in and narrowly lost the first two AFLW grand finals, Zielke saying those still at the club would benefit from that experience as they looked to rediscover their best form.
"All the great habits - move the footy well, shift lanes - we've discussed more about our style than theirs and want to work on why we even got ourselves into the position of third on the ladder in the first place," she said.
"We have to take the good from those games and it was great to learn (in the losses) the last two weeks; we've had some good learning points so, hopefully, we can address that this weekend."