Colm Cooper believes the momentum may have tilted more in Kerry's favour following Sunday's drawn All-Ireland final against Dublin.
The four-time All-Ireland winner felt Kerry supporters were travelling more in hope than expectation last weekend but senses that belief has returned following Sunday's encounter.
Saturday week witnesses only the fifth replayed decider in the past 40 years, with Kerry's last appearance in a rematch coming in 2000, when they overcame Galway by four points.
While replays are often anti-climactic in comparison to first All-Ireland final, Cooper feels that players who might have felt they under-performed in the drawn game will be itching to get back on the big stage.
"Some players felt that they under-performed last weekend," Cooper told the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"For any player that wants an opportunity to turn that around very quickly, you've two weeks to do it on the biggest stage again.
"It's great incentive for players to turn it around very quickly."
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The eight-time All-Star tentatively suggested that Dublin may have been guilty of over-confidence on Sunday and believes the course of the match has bolstered the belief in Kerry that they're not that far away.
"I thought probably the expectancy and - probably the first time I've ever associated this word with Dublin - complacency caught up with Dublin a small bit last week. I think maybe they went in a bit over-confident in the match. And Kerry maybe exposed them in some ways. And none of us thought they would.
"It was just such a funny match. I remember looking up at the scoreboard and Dublin, even though they'd only 14 men, were still five points clear in the second half. We were all thinking was just going plod out as Dublin do. When Kerry ate into the gap, it gave that bit of confidence that we're still hanging around.
"Killian Spillane's goal gave them such a lift.
"I think maybe the momentum may have changed going into the replay. Kerry really now believe - obviously the players always believed - but I think in the back of the supporters' minds they felt it was an uphill task for Kerry last weekend.
"They were going more in hope than expectation last week. The vibe I'm picking up around Killarney and Tralee the last few days is that they're a lot more upbeat. They feel now that they're at Dublin's level. They weren't sure before the match.
"I think the performance of the players and the way they threw everything at Dublin has galvanised things even further."
