TO SAY there's a level of familiarity between Brisbane and Adelaide would be an understatement.

Saturday night's preliminary final at Brighton Homes Arena will be the 13th time the two powerhouse clubs have met since the AFL Women's inception in 2017.

Among the combatants in their first meeting at Norwood, a three-point win to the Lions, were six players that have endured and lined up in every subsequent contest.

For Brisbane there's captain Bre Koenen, Ally Anderson and Shannon Campbell, while for the Crows it's midfield aces Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard, along with Stevie-Lee Thompson.

Marinoff is the competition's games record holder with 92, while Anderson has played 91. Neither have missed a single game since their debut in round one, 2017, and again loom as pivotal players in deciding which team advances to the Grand Final.

Speaking to AFL.com.au, a broad smile broke out across Anderson's face when asked about Marinoff.

"I love coming up against her, it's always a really good contest to see where you're at as a player," Anderson said.

"She's really strong in the contest. She's pretty tall, so it's hard to match up against her.

"I feel like the more I play her the more I know how she plays, and I'm sure she'd say the same about me.

"I've improved in my strength and my fitness, so hopefully I match up well."

While Marinoff was a star of the competition from season one, Anderson was a slow burn, establishing herself among the game's elite in 2019 when she earned the first of her two All-Australian selections.

Although not taking the Marinoff match-up as a direct head-to-head battle, Anderson said she was a tricky player to scout for.

"I judge it more on how our whole team performs. I'm only a small part of that," she said.

"She's a strong and contested player, so she'll be in and at the ball, and sometimes is hard to defend because if she's going to win her own footy, she's going to get a few (possessions) here and there.

"I feel like she's improved a lot with her ball use this year, but if you put her under enough pressure, hopefully you can cause those old habits to come back.

"It's just limiting the impact she has when she wins the ball."

Although Brisbane has a 9-3 advantage, including winning the past five matches against the Crows, that number can be a little misleading, so evenly matched are the teams.

The past three wins alone have come by three points or less, with the week five contest this season requiring two goals in the final four minutes and some late defensive heroics to keep Matthew Clarke's team at bay.

"When we're playing Adelaide, it's almost a bit like, 'Oh, we have to play them again,'" Anderson smiled.

"We know how competitive they are. It always comes down to a couple of points … you come into this game, and you know it's going to be hard. 

"You have to mentally prepare and physically prepare for a really tough, contested, hard game that's going to go right to the final siren.

"We always walk off the field and say, 'Wasn't that such a good game?' when we play Adelaide. 

"It's so competitive and they're such a tough opposition around the whole ground.

"They go for the footy, there's no off-the-ball stuff, they're a really fair team but very hard at the ball. 

"They're good, they're ruthless, they're honest, they're a really good team to play."