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.
While the Pies and Dees met time after time in big games during the 1950s and 60s, the pair of old enemies have not met in a final since 1989.
On a perfect afternoon for footy, Leigh Matthews' Magpies did battle with John Northey's Demons on the vast expanses of Waverley Park.
Melbourne, with their record of 14-8, would enter the elimination final as favourites, even after Collingwood flogged them like a dead horse in the pair's only meeting that season, a 10-goal drubbing at the MCG.
Yet by the time the sun had begun to set behind the Sir Kenneth Luke Stand, the Redlegs - steered by four goals from future NFL punter Darren Bennett - had run out 23 point winners.
While forced to watch the remainder of the finals from the sidelines, Matthews and his men would be back next September to snap the club's dastardly premiership drought.
For Melbourne - eliminated the following week by Geelong - it would be another three decades and change before the champagne corks would fly.
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.
While the Saints and Giants have never met this late into the season, the pair of sides with a premiership between them have enjoyed their share of tight contests.
Across the course of their 14-game rivalry, the men from Moorabbin and their counterparts from West of the Harbour Bridge have done battle in six fixtures decided by less than three goals.
Although in an off-Broadway timeslot and before the eyes of 7508 fans, St Kilda and GWS' most recent outing in Round 10 proved a see-sawing affair, with the Saints eventually running out 12 point winners.
Anything similar, or tighter, in their first September bout will be sure to have everyone on the edge of their seat.
A game for the ages, this one.
While Brisbane would be back on the game's biggest stage for the fourth season running - a feat not seen since Hawthorn in the mid-to-late 80s - Port had finally shaken off their choker tag, vying for their first AFL cup to go with the kitchen draw of SANFL silverware already at Alberton.
Though Leigh Matthews' Lions would start the brightest, Gavin Wanganeen would bang on four second-half goals as Port proved they had the power win.
In a game best remembered for Power head coach Mark Williams' exhuberance at the final siren, this decider's lasting legacy lies in the fact that seven past and present AFL coaches pulled the boots on that afternoon - Damien Hardwick, Adam Kingsley, Stuart Dew, Brad Scott, Chris Scott, Craig McRae and Michael Voss.