The Northern Pride are today sweating on a fitness test of their chief playmaker, Chris Sheppard, as they prepare to take on minor premiers Ipswich.

Sheppard is struggling with a painful foot injury, but Pride coach Andrew Dunemann is desperate to have the former Cowboy on hand tomorrow.

He may err on the side of caution however, deciding to rest the team's stalwart, as their season has yet to reach a do-or-die stage.

While tomorrow's winning side advances to the September 13 grand final, the loser gets one last crack at qualifying for the big one.

That comes in the form of a preliminary final showdown against the survivor from the elimination final between Souths Logan and Redcliffe at Meakin Park.

The Jets has made just one change to the side which beat the Pride 30-20 in Round 22.

Former Queensland Residents star Leigh Coghill comes into the side for an unlucky Dan Fullarton - a strong performer in Ipswich's last match.

The game kicks off at Briggs Road from 2pm.

Meanwhile, Redcliffe coach Gary O'Brien will be very aware that a week can be a long time in rugby league.

In Round 22, the Dolphins went through the motions on its way to a lacklustre win over the Comets, but a week later they were simply awesome in their 50-16 drubbing of Wynnum Manly in the knock-out final at Kougari Oval.

Key Redcliffe halfback Shane Perry attributed their turnaround to experience.

"At this time of the year we've got a lot of experience there and the boys know how to play finals footy," he said.

"The hardest part was getting there. Now we've just got to push on."

The Dolphins' last start win, coupled with their impressive Queensland Cup finals record, has the remaining teams looking anxiously over their shoulders.

An undermanned Souths Logan outfit, which is again likely to be missing the inspirational Phil Dennis (knee injury), is in grave danger of becoming Redcliffe's next scalp.

The Magpies will have to stage a stunning form reversal themselves after suffering a 40-16 loss to the Northern Pride last Sunday.

Souths Logan coach Paul Bramley has named Albert Talipeau at halfback, with last week's No. 7 Brogan Gibson reverting to the bench.

The Magpies will also be without Nigel Plum, a two-try star last weekend.

Plum has been named at lock for the Canberra Raiders and he could yet be joined by Cy Lasscock and Ben Jones.

The game kicks off at 3pm.