A lot of practice has the Western Bulldogs confident they will fire without captain Katie Brennan in their AFLW grand final against Brisbane.
The Bulldogs opted against Federation Court action on Friday, meaning one of the league's top players will miss the premiership decider on Saturday afternoon at Ikon Park.
After all the controversy this week surrounding Brennan's suspension and appeal, the Bulldogs must re-focus quickly.
But coach Paul Groves noted Brennan's injuries meant Ellie Blackburn had filled in as captain for eight of their 14 games over two seasons.
"We've played a lot of games without KB over the course of the two years, which is unfortunate, but we're quite used to it," Groves said.
"The way our forward line structures, the way we play, we've kicked the highest score in AFLW history without KB out there."
Blackburn went a step further when asked what hole Brennan would leave in the team with her absence.
"No hole, to be honest. She'll lead the team off the field, she's been great at that all year," Blackburn replied.
"No hole will be left, someone will fill it."
Groves said the team had addressed the potential distraction of Brennan's case and its fallout.
"We had an open and honest meeting on Wednesday about it and I reiterated to them that I was treating it as if we have a player who's pulled up pretty sore from last week," Groves said.
"So that what it is - we've given her every opportunity and the club's done amazing work to try to get her to be available to play.
"Katie made a decision last night that in the best interests of the team, we wouldn't take it any further today."
Kirsten McLeod will take Brennan's place in the team.
It was a big Tuesday for Groves - hours before Brennan's initial tribunal hearing, his wife Sarah gave birth to Ella.
"I will paint a picture of where I was at that stage - I was holding a baby who was 10 hours old ... going through Twitter to find out what was going on as quickly as I can," he said.
"It's been an emotional rollercoaster, especially Tuesday."
While this is the Bulldogs' first grand final, the Lions finished runners-up last year to Adelaide.
Coach Craig Starcevich said they had learned their lessons from last year, especially their own distractions around the drawn-out grand final venue saga.
"Having had one rehearsal with it last year, if you like, we're probably a little bit better placed in dealing with it," he said.
"We got caught up in the whole Gabba thing, even though we denied it, it was there."
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