COLLINGWOOD ruckman Josh Fraser has urged his teammates to kick on from previous failed finals attempts and to seize their chance in 2009.

The Magpies will play off for a preliminary final berth on Sunday when they meet St Kilda at the MCG.

Fraser thinks this year’s Collingwood list is perhaps better-placed to win the club’s first premiership since 1990 than any other side in which he has been a part.

He believes the quality and depth of his team, along with its strength of leadership, could carry it all the way to success in the finals – and Fraser knows the club won’t be in such a position again for some time.

“We’ve just got to seize this opportunity,” Fraser said before training at the MCG on Thursday.

“Seven other clubs will be thinking the same way, so that’s not big news but I guess that’s just the mindset of our playing list this year – that every opportunity needs to be taken.

“I’m in my late 20s now and probably closer to the end than the start.

“In ’02 and ’03 I probably thought the opportunity to play in grand finals and finals would happen every year but it just doesn’t, so these are the times you’ve got to grab.”

When asked to rate the Collingwood team compared to that of earlier campaigns – including those that lost the 2002 and 2003 grand finals to the Brisbane Lions – Fraser said this unit had the genuine belief needed to succeed.

“There’s been a slight shift in the footy club in my time,” the 27-year-old said.

“In previous finals series we have hoped to win, we’ve known our best is good enough and we hoped to play our best and win.

“I think we now know that we’ve just got to turn up and get the job done.

“It is just that mindset. Maybe [it’s] maturity, maybe the quality of players we’ve got through the list but we know what we have to do, we know the consequences if we don’t do it and for a lot of the guys there’s really no tomorrow for us.”

The Pies start their attack on September against the Saints at the home of football, a ground Fraser and his teammates know well.

But, despite the Pies having played at the MCG 14 times this season opposed to the Saints’ one, Fraser doesn’t think his side will possess any edge on their rivals when the ball is bounced on Sunday.

“I don’t buy too much into that different grounds [argument]. You’ve just got to win where you’re told to play,” he said.

“From our point of view it doesn’t hold any great advantage that we play a lot of our games here.

“I think we more look at the way St Kilda have gone about their footy this year and it’s going to present a big enough challenge in itself.”