Only two Carlton players have experienced an AFL preliminary final before.
One is former Adelaide forward turned backman Mitch McGovern.
The other is hard-nosed midfielder George Hewett.
Hewett was a 20-year-old first-year player when Sydney reached a grand final in 2016, beating Geelong away in the preliminary final to reach the decider.
But this time, things feel a whole lot different.
Hewett is now 27, and experiencing the ride with Carlton has delivered an experience shared with a truckload of parochial fans.
"It was a while ago," he told AAP.
"As a non-Victorian club, the hype probably wasn't there so we were all very internally motivated.
"But here, we're internally motivated but our fans and the crowd give us a boost as well, which is a different feeling but it's good."
After enjoying a parochial MCG crowd behind them, the Blues now are set to face a hostile, pro-Brisbane Lions audience at the Gabba on Saturday evening.
"We've just got to embrace it and enjoy it," Hewett said.
"We've had two great crowds and now we get to go into their territory and hopefully play on the front foot and see how we go.
"We've got nothing to lose.
"It's been a whole effort of the whole list. We've just got to go again."
Harry McKay and Jack Martin return from missing the semi-final win over Melbourne due to concussion and suspension respectively.
McKay's inclusion is particularly helpful, given Brisbane's gun defender Jack Payne is out with an ankle injury.
"They've got some great tall defenders and to get those two back, it shows how strong the list is," Hewett said.
But make no mistake, the Blues know they've got their work cut out for them.
Beyond Eric Hipwood and Joe Daniher, there's the brilliant Charlie Curnow, explosive forward-midfielder Cam Rayner and creative duo Zac Bailey and Lincoln McCarthy.
Carlton's defence was humbled back in round eight when Cameron booted four goals as the Lions enjoyed a 26-point win at Marvel Stadium.
The Blues have only conceded more than 100 points once, in their round-23 loss to fellow preliminary finalists GWS, in the 17 games since that Brisbane defeat.
"Brisbane are a high-scoring team but we've been defending really well," Hewett said.
"So that's gonna be a team with great offence against our defence and hopefully we go alright."
Brodie Kemp, who kept Hipwood to one goal in round eight, was the surprise omission among four dropped Blues.
Midfielders David Cuningham and Matt Kennedy and forward Matt Owies also made way.
Winger Ollie Hollands was rewarded for his impressive cameo as the substitute against the Demons with elevation to the 22, while small defender Jordan Boyd was recalled.
