You can smell it, can't you?
The days have grown longer and the flowers may be blooming, but these signifiers of Spring are all inconsequential to the footballing fanatic.
With the temperature rising, realistically and metaphorically, and the pretenders now separated from the contenders, it can only mean one thing - finals football.
Sure, in a standard season we would only be days away from a do or die clash in front of a packed house at the MCG, but 2020 has proven that tried and true recipes are not to be regarded.
Even though the frenetic home and away season has rounded the bend and passed the post, the job is still ahead of eight clubs in their hunt for the 'Covid Cup'.
With a week off before the season's after party begins, each of the octet of coaches who have received invitations still have chores to perform before the champagne corks can be cracked
From the eighth seed to there first, here are the 2020 premiership contender's โto do lists'.
2.
Brisbane
There are two major concerns facing Chris Fagan before the commencement of the finals and they are located at both ends of the ground.
For the past two seasons, Brisbane's accuracy at goal has been nightmare fuel for the bespectacled Fagan. In 2019, the Lions had 311 shots for goal, with upwards of 60% of those fired from less than twenty-five metres out. Of this triple ton, only 47% found their way through the big sticks. That number had dipped to 40% heading into the Lion's clash with Sydney.
Now this percentage is skewed by the amount of maroon clad midfielders taking pot shots at goal, but Brisbane's genuine forwards cannot be let off the hook either. Prior to round seventeen, Eric Hipwood was kicking at 44%, Oscar McInerney at 38% and Charlie Cameron at 50% - sadly, an equal club best.
Of Brisbane's seventeen matches this season, only six times have they kicked more goals than behinds. A statistic that sees them sit comfortably as the least accurate team in front of goal.
The loss of full-back Harris Andrews will also have Fagan's brow moist. With the elite defender sidelined with a hamstring injury, Brisbane's match committee decided to promote the inexperienced Jack Payne to fill the void instead of the relying upon makeshift defender Daniel McStay. The stand-in fullback performed admirably against the Suns, but the questions remains about Payne's potential to play on the likes of Hawkins and Charlie Dixon one on one. Should the immature understudy find the task too daunting, Fagan will need to have plans B, C & D up his sleeves.
Intercept defenders Darcy Gardiner and Callum Ah Chee will both need to rise to the occasion and provide a helping hand for Payne in Andrews' absence.
10 intercept possessionsโ
Six marksโThe @brisbanelions' Jack Payne did an admirable job in Harris Andrews' place and rounds out our Unsung Heroes for Round 16๐ฆธโโ๏ธ
โ: https://t.co/GHukg0Rn08 pic.twitter.com/oYpcJzr1BD
โ aflplayers (@AFLPlayers) September 9, 2020
If neither of these boxed are ticked, there is a high likelihood that Brisbane will be bundled out in straight sets for the second successive season.
With a favourable draw in front of them to finish the season and the finals series to be played in familiar surrounds, there has never been a better time to coax the crowds of the early 2000's back to Woolloongabba. The output between the arcs just needs to lift in order to allow them to roar.