This Sunday 'Rocky' returns to the venue where she made her name alongside her Western Bulldogs teammates as they clash with reigning premiers Brisbane for a place in the AFLW finals.

After a COVID interrupted first half of the season where much of the Bulldogs team contracted the virus, the club has gathered itself together for a late run at post season action.

A one-point win over Adelaide and a smashing victory last week against West Coast has the Bulldogs the form side of the competition, but still two points adrift of the finals.

To make it, they not only need to beat the Lions but also rely on Richmond upsetting Collingwood in what looms as a thrilling final round.

"Annoyingly we have to wait and see how the Collingwood and Richmond game goes, but we're going to go into it with the mindset that it's a final anyway," Cranston said.

"I think knocking off the reigning premiers will give us some wonderful momentum going into next year. Either way, we want to take them out.

"We had that interrupted start and we've let a few games slip, a three-point loss to Freo, a draw with Gold Coast, a lot of what if's, a point here and there could be a different result right now."

It was well documented early in the season that Cranston had fallen out of love with the game when she was delisted from Geelong, but she says an extra year with the Bulldogs had rekindled her spark.

"It's been amazing," she said. "I'm really happy that this year allowed me to fall in love with the game again because I didn't want to finish on that note.

"Even if I don't get another contract next year, at least I'm ending on a happy note."

Cranston will go down as one of the great pioneers of the women's game and at 32, she knows her time could be limited, but she's not ready to hang up the boots just yet.

"I don't want to retire, absolutely not, but who know's what's going to happen," she said. "We've got an expansion coming next year, so who knows? But if it is the last, it's a year I've really enjoyed.

Living in Maryborough as a teenager, Cranston moved to Ballarat when she heard about North Ballarat's women's football club.

"I was just chasing footy, I always had a footy in my hands and just didn't have an option to play, but as soon as I found out there was women's football for 18 and up in Ballarat, I was straight there," she said.

"It was North Ballarat so it's a real homecoming for me this weekend. I've played there many years ago, I've been lucky enough to play a VFL game with the Cats, but I feel like the surface has had a bit of an upgrade since then.

"It'll be a great day, my girlfriend lives in Ballarat so it'll be a great little sleep-in for me on the day, where the other girls will have to travel for once.

"If it is my last game, it's a career come first circle and it will be an awesome way to finish back there."