Could that team be Collingwood?
Midfielder Brent Macaffer said on Thursday that the Pies would enter the finals in the belief they can win the flag.
"You have got to have that mindset," he told a media conference at the Westpac Centre on the eve of his 50th game, against West Coast at the MCG on Friday night.
"Otherwise, you'd be just making up the numbers."
Macaffer said the Pies saw themselves as a top-four worthy side and were disappointed not to have the luxury of a double chance in the finals.
"Obviously you want to be top four because to have the double chance is pretty handy. It is what it is, but we only have ourselves to blame for not being in the top four."
Macaffer has been reinvented as a run-with player this season and he said he relished the opportunity to play on some of the competition's prime movers each week.
It means he might find himself standing next to his 2010 Magpie premiership teammate Sharrod Wellingham, who joined the Eagles at the start of the season.
"It will be good to play against him," Macaffer said. "He's a much loved player here at Collingwood, a premiership player and friends with a lot of us, so it will be good to see him out there and go up against him."
