Magpies flop taught Lions lesson: Fagan

It’s the big blip in Brisbane’s otherwise highly impressive 2019 AFL season.

After a bumper crowd poured into the Gabba on Easter Thursday for the round five fixture between the Lions and Collingwood, coach Chris Fagan’s men froze and slumped to a 62-point belting by the Magpies.

The loss remains Brisbane’s only defeat from 10 matches at the Gabba this year.

The sold-out signs are once again going up at the Brisbane venue for Saturday’s blockbuster against Geelong, and Fagan is promising lessons have been learned from the Magpies loss.

Just as it was in April, expectations are soaring for the Lions heading into the top-of-the-table clash with the Cats.

A first finals spot since 2009 has been locked away while a win over the Cats would put the Lions in the box seat for a top-two finish and catapult them into genuine premiership contention.

Fagan however said such forward thinking had been a big aspect behind his team’s no-show against the Magpies.

“The thing we learned about that Collingwood game is just have a normal week boys,” he said.

“It’s nothing special. It’s just another game of football.

“It’s Brisbane playing Geelong tomorrow. Doesn’t matter how many people turn up. Doesn’t matter what the positions are on the ladder. We just have to do what we do every other week.

“Which is what we’ve done probably every game since that game against Collingwood.”

Fagan also expected the bumper crowd to be far more on the Lions side than was witnessed against the Magpies.

“We’re gonna play in front of a full house tomorrow, which is a fantastic show of support for our players,” he said.

“I felt like half the crowd was Collingwood. I’ve got a feeling tomorrow night might be mostly Brisbane.”

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