Have two AFL teams ever endured such contrasting weeks of emotion going into such an important match than St Kilda and Collingwood ahead of Saturday night's blockbuster at the MCG?
The two teams - who sit in seventh and eighth place respectively with four rounds remaining - have dominated the build-up to Round 19 but for vastly different reasons.
There is no doubt the Saints will be going in with the greatest motivation possible - knowing this year is now definitely the last chance for retiring veteran Robert Harvey to win a premiership - while the Magpies will be going in deflated knowing two of their best players are suspended for the rest of the season and another is out for two weeks after the club's latest off-field controversy.
The decision by Heath Shaw to drink and drive on Sunday night threatens to have consequences far greater than just the outcome of this week's game and the fact he lied about the involvement of serial bad boy Alan Didak - embarrassing president Eddie McGuire, coach Mick Malthouse and skipper Scott Burns in the process - has ensured the worst possible build-up for the Pies.
Didak, who may have played his last game for the Pies given his earlier indiscretions, and Shaw will miss the rest of the season while Shaw's older brother Rhyce is out for two matches after being suspended for drinking while recovering injury.
The Pies could ill-afford to be without three such important players at any time, let alone when they are fighting to stay in the eight and have lost five of their past seven matches.
It will take all of Malthouse's considerable coaching skills and experience to get the Magpies back on track this week particularly as they come up against a club with the greatest motivation in the world - to send their favourite son out on a high.
Harvey, who turns 37 in just over a week, has announced he will retire at season's end as he attempts one last crack at the premiership that has eluded him for so long.
No player has played more AFL games - 376 - without winning a flag but the dual Brownlow Medalist came close when the Saints were runners-up in 1997 and beaten preliminary finalists in 2004 and 2005.
But the Saints are coming good at the right time with five wins in their past six games and are just a game and a half adrift of a top four finish.
"Our season is still alive and there is some unfinished business yet," Saints' coach Ross Lyon said this week in reference to winning a premiership for Harvey.
"And it starts Saturday night against Collingwood on what is a big stage and Robert has still got some performances left in him and I'm sure the group is going to get in behind that."
The Saints-Pies clash is not the only important game this week with just two and a half games separating fourth-placed Sydney from 12th-placed Essendon with only Geelong, Hawthorn and the Dogs assured of finals action.
But Sydney and Adelaide can shore up their finals spots this week by beating Fremantle and Richmond respectively while fellow contenders North Melbourne and Brisbane face tougher tasks against the Bulldogs and Hawthorn respectively, Carlton and Essendon should keep their slim finals hopes alive by alive by beating struggling pair Port Adelaide and West Coast.