Brisbane coach Chris Fagan believes last year's AFL finals disappointment will drive the Lions on this time around.
The Lions' impressive 2019 campaign came to a shuddering halt with a straight-sets finals exit after defeats to Richmond and Greater Western Sydney.
The Tigers - and their 11-year, 15-game winning run over the Lions - is again the first post-season hurdle in Brisbane's path with the teams set to do battle in a qualifying final at the Gabba on Friday.
Fagan is, however, confident the Lions head into this year's clash a harder, more streetwise team than they were last year.
"Our guys have grown up as a team and our guys understand if you want to beat the best you've got to be very even across the board," Fagan said, adding his team's reliance on their top stars such as Charlie Cameron and Lachie Neale had decreased in the past 12 months.
Snapping the Tigers' dominance is just one of the pressures facing Fagan's Lions.
A win on Friday would put them into a preliminary final at the Gabba and just one step from a grand final at their home ground.
Fagan admits there's plenty of expectation on his team but insists that can be used as a positive.
"We understand that the consequences of a positive result is an opportunity to go into a prelim final and be only a game away from a grand final and that's certainly what we're aiming to do," he said.
"That won't be lost on the players."
Last year's finals defeat to the Tigers and a round 10 loss this year to the premiers both featured inaccurate goalkicking displays by the Lions.
Brisbane kicked 8.17 in last year's final and then 4.17 at Metricon Stadium earlier this year.
Fagan though believes they have turned the corner with improved accuracy in recent weeks and challenged his players to not let fears of missing affect them on Friday night.
"We've turned it around the last few weeks so we look forward to a continuation of that on Friday night," he said.
"Part of being mentally strong is not letting what happens in the game affect you too much.
"That's probably one of our learnings from last year's finals and again from our Geelong game earlier in the season we learnt plenty about that.
"We let some things affect us so we'll just remain mentally strong if that happens and just continue to attack and know that it'll turn around."
