For Brisbane captain Clare Polkinghorne, Westfield W-League grand-final week has become an annual occurrence and one that she wants her side to savour before getting down to business against Canberra United on Saturday.
For Brisbane captain Clare Polkinghorne, Westfield W-League grand-final week has become an annual occurrence and one that she wants her side to savour before getting down to business against Canberra United on Saturday.
The Roar's stunning and controversial win against traditional rivals Sydney FC saw the club keep their unblemished record of grand finals appearances alive, booking decider number four, having taken two trophies from three so far.
The win against Sky Blues, who have been the Roar's grand final opponents for the last two seasons, was full of tension, swinging only in the final seconds of injury time when Brisbane snared an equaliser after trailing since the 18th minute, before Sydney imploded, with Kyah Simon and then coach Alen Stajcic both earning marching orders prior to extra time.
Polkinghorne, who has an incredible five years of Matilda's experience at just 23 years old, showed poise in declining to comment on the accusations of poor sportsmanship from Sydney, preferring to laud her side's incredible never-say-die attitude.
"We were one-nil down for most of the game, and it's the spirit that we have in this team that we came back, came through the 120 minutes and took it out on dot shots," she said.
"We'd come back from being down in games before and got late equalisers and winners. It's not over till the fat lady sings, we knew that, and the girls pulled through again."
Brisbane's history of late equalisers will certainly be known to Canberra, who saw a 2-1 lead turn to a draw in the 85th minute when the sides met in their sole regular-season bout in 2011-12.
The side from the national's capital have gone undefeated, compiling an impressive seven wins and three draws and will enter the final as strong favourites with the bookies.
But according to Polkinghorne, Brisbane will go into the decider undaunted, trusting in their vast big-game experience.
"There's a couple of younger girls that probably haven't experienced finals, but our team has a lot of experience in big games," she said.
"It's going to be a very exciting week and hopefully the girls can enjoy the week and not play the game mentally before Saturday."
"We're going to enjoy the week, enjoy the build-up and get down to business on Saturday."
"They've had a very good year, going through undefeated. They got through against Melbourne, but anything can happen in a grand final and it doesn't matter how many you've won before that, it's who wins on the day."