“CHEER from your couch as loud as you can and hopefully we can hear it.”

That was the message from Senior Coach Daniel Harford on the eve of the AFLW Blues’ semi final clash against the Lions at Ikon Park.

Two days after finding out Carlton would feature in its second consecutive finals series, Harford has pivoted his focus to preparing for Brisbane.

“It was a bit stressful I must admit, we were waiting to try and work out which opponent we were going to play, let alone whether or not it was finals,” Harford said.

“We did have an eye on Brisbane because the word was if it was going to be a finals campaign, it would be top four from each conference.

“We’ve got the information for them and they’re fully understanding of what we need to do against Brisbane and it’s just a matter of going out there on Sunday.”

Sunday’s cross-conference clash will be the first in what is a hopefully a three-match finals campaign for the Blues after the last two games of the home and away season were cut short.

Grand Finalists in 2019, Harford has noticed an attitude change in the group between last year’s campaign to this season.

“I think last year it was more ‘thank god we’re in’ – it was more really enjoying the moment, but almost unexpected to a degree from where we were,” he said.

“I think this year we expected to be a decent team and a decent performer week in week out, so there’s not as much over the top excitement, it’s just an expectation that that’s what we play for.

“It’s not as heightened as it was last year, it’s more ‘this is our business, this is what we do’ and it just happens to be the best time of year to be playing.”

This will be the second match for 2020 played by the Blues in front of empty stands, their win over the Demons in Alice Springs pulled off in an empty Traeger Park.

But, for Harford, the support of Bluebaggers has never been more important.

“We would love to have them inside the stadium cheering us on and we know that’s not possible but we know that they are there with us in spirit,” he said.

“I expect a lot of loud households across the nation cheering on the Navy Blue.”