THE clubs are the same, the venue the same, the main protagonists the same, but the path to Saturday night's elimination final has been so, so different for Brisbane and Carlton than it was when they met almost 12 months ago.

On that warm September night at the Gabba, the Lions advanced to their first Grand Final in 19 years, overcoming a big early deficit to run down Michael Voss' men.

This time around, the stakes aren't quite as high as we're two weeks earlier in the season, but some recent history between the clubs ensures it's just as eagerly anticipated.

In 2023, Brisbane went into prelim final week as a strong favourite, having won all 12 matches at its home fortress, and missing just Will Ashcroft and Jack Payne from its best team.

Following a 1-2 start to that season, the Lions sat in the top four from round six onwards and were always fancied as a premiership contender.

Ashcroft's season-ending knee injury with six rounds remaining was a curveball, while Payne's departure following the qualifying final win over Port Adelaide paved the way for Darcy Gardiner's inclusion.

All in all, it was pretty smooth sailing.

The Blues were almost the opposite – and laid out a template for this season's iteration of the Lions to follow.

Languishing in 15th place after 15 rounds, they won nine straight games to storm into the top eight and then rolled Sydney and Melbourne in successive weeks to set up a date at the Gabba.

Aside from Zac Williams (knee), the Blues were relatively healthy when it counted most.

The road to September has been vastly different for both clubs this year.

Brisbane's first two months was a horror show, with five losses from its first seven matches and injuries all over the place.

Its eighth match – a win against Gold Coast – would see Lincoln McCarthy and Gardiner add their names to Keidean Coleman and Tom Doedee as victims of ruptured ACLs.

In some ways, this was the club's turning point.

With plenty of fresh faces amid the injury chaos, they would drop as low as 13th after 14 rounds, and just like this weekend's counterparts a year earlier, would rattle off nine consecutive wins to get back into the finals picture.

Kai Lohmann and Logan Morris are suddenly regular fixtures in the forward line, with Bruce Reville, Shadeau Brain and Henry Smith all playing crucial roles at different stages.

And then there's Ashcroft, returning mid-season from 12 months out of the game and ready to play his first final.

Coach Chris Fagan said the Lions had spoken about their younger players earlier this week.

"You don't have to go out and do anything special. It's all about being reliable, not remarkable," he said.

"For those boys to think they have to do anything more … would be a big mistake.

"It's about the collective group doing what they need to at any given moment. That's the message we gave those boys and hopefully that'll keep them calm."

Carlton has been somewhat the reverse, rock solid and in second spot until the final five weeks of the home and away campaign when the wheels began to wobble.

Injuries hit – and hit hard.

The 23 that runs out against the Lions could be very similar – or extremely different – to the one that ran out in that preliminary final last year.

Either way, the path to get there and form on the way in, is anything but the same.

Like it did almost 12 months ago, will Brisbane walk away victorious, or like the rest of 2024, will the journey to get there give us absolutely no idea what we're in for?