WINNING a preliminary final on the road used to be one of footy's toughest tasks, but recent history suggests that is no longer the case.

A prelim final interstate is the huge challenge facing Fremantle (against Sydney at the SCG on Friday night) and Brisbane (against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday) this week, but the past decade suggests the Dockers and Lions have a better chance than they would have earlier this century.

Since the current finals format was introduced in 2000, teams who have travelled interstate for a preliminary final have a 13-23 record.

While the ledger is firmly in favour of the home teams, the introduction of the pre-finals bye in 2016 has given travelling teams hope.

Before 2016, teams heading interstate for prelims were 5-15. Since then, they are 8-8.

While the wildcard finals were introduced this year in place of the pre-finals bye, the top six teams still had a week off heading into the business end of the season.

It means the Dockers and Lions will be third up this weekend following their pre-finals bye, instead of potentially running on fumes after a long run of games.

Visiting teams took no time in bucking the trend when the pre-finals bye was introduced 10 years ago. Sydney (against Geelong at the MCG) and the Western Bulldogs (against Greater Western Sydney) both took advantage straight away in 2016, while the Giants edged Collingwood in an MCG thriller three years later to advance to the Grand Final.

The 2020 and 2021 seasons were impacted by the pandemic, but Richmond still beat Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval and Geelong beat Brisbane at the Gabba in the first of those years, and the Bulldogs got the better of the Power in Adelaide in the next.

Melbourne and Geelong played a preliminary final in Perth in 2021, but that game has been excluded from our calculations given they were both interstate teams.

A run of losses followed the COVID years, with the next five teams to play an interstate prelim tasting defeat, including - worryingly for the Dockers this week - Collingwood and the Power to the Swans at the SCG in 2022 and 2024.

But the Lions broke that run by beating Geelong in 2024, before their win over the Magpies last year at the MCG.

The Lions have almost always fared well on the road at the business end of the season; Brisbane is 4-1 in such games (four of which were at the MCG), with its only defeat coming against the Cats in 2022, and one of those wins came as a 'host' in Melbourne in 2004.

Like the Dockers, the Lions lost their qualifying final, but a trip interstate should hold no fears for either with a Grand Final place on the line.