It has served them well all season and Brisbane is promising to only make slight tweaks to their gameplan for Saturday’s AFL qualifying final against Richmond.
The Lions suffered a 27-point loss to the Tigers in a round 23 game at the MCG just a fortnight ago.
The defeat was the Lions 13th straight loss to Richmond – a streak stretching back to 2009 – also the last season Brisbane featured in the finals.
Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater, the Lions believe the slight tweaks they made throughout their last encounter have already shown they can match it with the Tigers.
“It was just the first quarter we were just not able to adapt to a couple of things they did and they kicked straight at the other end,” Adcock said.
“We’ll make some small adjustments.
“We’ve got to be really cautious that we try and make it just about what we’ve done and not a lot changes besides that.
“If you start talking about finals and how much changes happen in finals then we’re probably setting them up to worry about the pressure. After five-10 minutes the games generally settle down a little bit and then you just go play footy again.
“You learn to handle pressure situations by experiencing them and, yeah, it is first time for a lot of them but they also should be pretty excited too.”
The Lions have made one change from the team which was beaten at the MCG with Allen Christensen recovering from a hamstring strain to replace Cedric Cox.
The Tigers meanwhile have omitted Noah Balta with 2017 premiership ruckman Toby Nankervis recalled to support Ivan Soldo.
On-field match-ups will be crucial with Richmond defender Dylan Grimes likely to go to Lions small forward Charlie Cameron after smothering him two weeks ago.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick may opt to send a tagger to Lachie Neale after the Brisbane midfielder picked up a half-century of disposals at the MCG while Chris Fagan could start Darcy Gardiner on Jack Riewoldt.
The three-time Coleman medallist booted four first-quarter goals when he was being marked by Marcus Adams but didn’t get another major when Fagan swapped Gardiner on to him for the remainder of the round 23 clash.
The biggest aspect the Lions need to focus on however in Adcock’s opinion is limiting the Tigers’ run from their own defensive end.
He said putting pressure on Bachar Houli and, in particular, Nick Vlastuin will be crucial.
“We can’t allow it to happen again,” Adcock said.
“We know how important Vlastuin is to them and the way they set up behind the ball especially.
“We’ve got to try and hold him accountable.”
