There’s a very fine line between optimism and delusion.

The next three weeks will determine on which side Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham sits.

Graham is keeping the faith not only in his players, but in their ability to turn around their disastrous start to the Super Rugby season, which has them 1-5, bottom of the Australian conference and by far the worst attacking team in the competition.

And despite what all those numbers might suggest, he’s still not afraid to utter the ‘F’ word – finals.

“I’m absolutely confident that we can make a run for the finals,” Graham said.

“There’s 10 games left, I know last year two teams made the semis on eight (wins).

“You have a look at the competition at the moment, there are teams beating teams on a regular basis, which has kept the table pretty tight.”

It’s a lofty aim for the Reds, who face the Melbourne Rebels on Friday night before heading on tour to South Africa to take on the Bulls and the Cheetahs.

Nearly every name has been crossed off the team’s injury list – including Rob Simmons, whose shoulder nerve issue should subside in time for him to feature in South Africa – and even Karmichael Hunt and Liam Gill are back from suspension.

It all highlights the fact that Queensland and Graham are fast running out of excuses.

“You can hide from it, but we understand we need to get a win this weekend,” Graham said.

The Rebels will certainly be no pushovers, but Graham believes he saw his side take several strides forward in Friday’s disappointing 18-17 loss to the Lions.

“Last week we played against a side that conceded the second-least number of line-breaks in the competition,” he said.

“We made 10 clear line-breaks.

“Unfortunately we didn’t score on the back of enough of those … (but) it demonstrates to us that our attack is certainly improving and we’re doing something right at training.”