Whether allowing for old rivalries to be rekindled or new ones to be stoked, the finals firepit is always white hot.

Champion players and teams stamp their brands here, but for the vanquished, sometimes the burns can take a lifetime to soothe.

Ahead of the the temperature rising during the first week of the 2023 AFL Finals series, we turned the clock back to the last time each finals pairing faced off this late in the season.

2. Carlton and Sydney - Semi Final, 2013

Though only a decade between drinks this time, it bears mentioning that this was also Carlton's most recent afternoon at the September drip tray.

For context, Patrick Cripps was still just a baby-faced teenager in Perth waiting for his name to be called at the draft when the Blues and Swans did battle at Stadium Australia.

Buoyed by a stellar come-from-behind win over Richmond the week prior, the Blues bounced across the border to face the previous year's premiers.

And though Sydney would make their way from Moore Park to Homebush on the back of qualifying final hiding at the hands of Hawthorn, they were at short odds to send the Blues packing.

Punters backing the favourite weren't dissapointed either, as key engine room cogs in McVeigh, Jack and Parker steering Sydney home with 94 disposals and seven goals between them.

The Bloods' premiership reign would end a week later, they would be back to take part in seven of the next nine finals series - a far cry from life at Princes Park.