Polias was particularly complimentary of Adelaide United, who shocked the league by going undefeated in the opening seven rounds before losing to Sydney.

“Adelaide were one of the hardest teams to play against in terms of organisation and discipline,” she said. “They were tough. Although we pelted them that day, they were a really good team. They were really unlucky [to miss out on finals].”

Sydney are notoriously slow starters in the W-League, often losing two or three games at the beginning of their seasons before picking up the pace. That trend continued into their 2018-19 campaign.

“It’s been the biggest squad turnover ever so that in itself was a challenge,” Polias said.

“Our internationals are amazing players of such high calibre, but they came the week before the season started ... So [we were] still getting to know each other [and] it took us quite a while to do that, not just on the field but also off it. We [went] into the season still preparing. That was a big challenge for us.”

Even though Sydney missed out on yet another Premiership, Polias is confident that they can make another strong run towards the Championship trophy.

“[Brisbane] are a great team. Mel Andreatta has done a great job. We’re wary of them, but we know the ball is in our court. If we do everything we need to do correctly, we know we can beat them again. We’ve done it twice. We need to be able to pull together and do it again.”

Both times Sydney and Brisbane met this season, the Sky Blues claimed all points on offer, first in a 5-1 drubbing at Seymour Shaw Park and then again in a 3-1 win away at Lions Stadium.

Despite the seemingly lop-sided nature of the upcoming semi-final, Polias is not about to let her guard down.

“Finals [are] a whole different ball game, as we’ve seen over the years,” she said.

“[The league] has been getting tighter; any team can beat any other team on the day.”

Brisbane Roar will take on Sydney FC this Sunday at 7:15pm AEDT at Dolphin Stadium in Redcliffe.