New Lions captain Jed Adcock says it’s time Brisbane finally flick the switch and start the AFL premiership season like genuine finals contenders.
In the past two years, the Lions have limped to a 2-12 combined record from their opening seven matches and Adcock has stressed the importance of converting their pre-season success into the early rounds.
“Our emphasis is really on the first five weeks,” the rebounding defender said.
“The past few years, we’ve got off to really slow starts and it’s really hard to come back from that – it puts you behind the eight ball.”
There were no recoveries after a 0-7 start in 2011 and a 2-5 opening last year but Adcock believes their NAB Cup triumph shows the club has turned the corner under Michael Voss.
“You’ve got to perform sometime – you can’t be mediocre forever,” he said.
“At some stage, you’ve got to flick the switch and start working, and we’ve been working hard for three years now.
“We’ve been under the same coach, same game plan, same structures, same conditioning staff – everything has been pretty familiar for a few years now.
“Hopefully, the guys have been able to grasp that and the outcome is around the corner.”
It all starts with the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, where the Lions – who finished 13th last year with a 10-12 record – will be rare favourites in Melbourne.
They beat the Bulldogs by 67 and 48 points last year and their chances of racking up another heavy win have improved with their rivals losing captain Matthew Boyd (calf).
Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney (knee) is also in doubt.
“Boyd is a loss to them. He’s the captain of the footy club, but they’ve got a lot of good players still,” Adcock said.
“They are a younger team but we can’t focus on that. We’ve got to focus on our own game and what we want to do to beat them.”
Ruckman Matthew Leuenberger trained in a closed session at Coorparoo on Wednesday morning but is expected to continue his return from an Achilles injury in the reserves, with youngster Billy Longer to start.
