Chris Fagan reckons Brisbane versus Geelong is akin to Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal.
Which, by extension, makes Brisbane's trip to Geelong similar to Federer playing Nadal on a clay court.
Fagan has channelled the storied rivalry between retired tennis greats Federer and Nadal ahead of the next chapter of the great modern AFL rivalry between his Lions and the Cats.
"We have played each other that much in the last two years it's sort of incredible when you look at it," Fagan said.
"It's a bit like when Federer played Nadal in tennis. We win one, they win one, we win one, they win one.
"And it's just a really hard, well-fought-out contest."
Geelong welcome back Tom Stewart and Bailey Smith for Thursday night's clash - the star duo replace George Stevens and Jack Bowes.
And the Lions are unchanged for the 14th meeting of the powerhouses since they met in the 2020 preliminary final.
Those 13 fixtures feature one grand final (last year, won by the Lions), three prelims and a qualifying final. In that span, Geelong have won seven, Brisbane six.
And Thursday night's encounter comes at a critical juncture in the current season: both clubs have nine wins and six losses.
Geelong are on a 10-game winning streak at home - Brisbane are the last away side to win there, in round 16 last year.
The Cats hold fourth spot on percentage from Fagan's fifth-placed Lions, who are still stinging from their most recent clash when, just seven weeks ago, Geelong travelled to Brisbane and departed with a 41-point win.
"We're looking forward to the challenge on Thursday night," Fagan said.
"We know it's a huge challenge, but we'll see how we go. We definitely want to play better than we did last time against them, and we feel like we can."
The form line of Brisbane, chasing a third consecutive premiership, has improved significantly with three successive victories.
Last-start, the Lions pounded flag fancies Sydney by 43 points, recording more than 100 points for a third straight game.
"Sydney are a very high-scoring team, the highest-scoring team in the comp," Fagan said.
"It has been something that we have been inconsistent with this year, but we have been quite consistent with the last three weeks.
"So that was the true test of whether what we had been working on was working. And that was a tick the other night.
"But you start again. You get Geelong down at Geelong - it doesn't get any harder than that."
