How Brisbane Lions plans to improve record away from home

Brisbane is desperate to improve its away record by any means necessary, including taking a piece of home along for the ride for Saturday’s clash against St Kilda.

Stefan Martin of the Lions.

Stef Martin will head to Melbourne armed with his favourite pillow in a bid to turn around Brisbane’s poor travelling form.

The Lions are 2-4 away from home this year and the 31-year-old is determined to clinch victory over St Kilda by any means necessary – including creature comforts.

Pre-game preparation has been a hot topic at the Gabba with Martin sharing details of a Tuesday morning squad discussion.

“Of late, we haven’t travelled as well as the last 24 months where we’ve been OK,’’ he said.

“We went through a bunch of factors that we think might contribute to that and might help us to improve that road record in the short and medium future.

“It comes down to replicating the environment you’ve got at home.”

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For some, like Martin, that means bringing a piece of home along for the ride.

“Maybe pack your own pillow, some blokes do, I do that,” he said.

“The schedule does get changed a bit by nature when you’re on the road so just try to simplify that as much as you can and keep as close to what you’d have for a home game.”

Stefan Martin of the Lions in action.

Laugh if you will but Brisbane will need Martin at his best against the unpredictable Saints.

Rising St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall was key to his team’s four-point win over Gold Coast in Townsville and the Lions veteran knows how important their match-up at Marvel Stadium will be.

“Rucks tends to keep a bit of an eye on other rucks in the league and track how they’re going and I’ve watched him and been really impressed over the past year.

“He’s a really dynamic player.”

Former Lions great Jonathon Brown believes missing September would be “disappointing” given his club’s fast start, but an eighth win this weekend would well and truly open the finals frame.

Beating the Saints would catapult Brisbane into equal-fourth on the ladder before hosting Melbourne, and successive wins could set up a potential top-four showdown against Greater Western Sydney next month.

It’s a mouth-watering prospect for Martin, who is yet to play finals in a 12-year career that he hopes will see him remain in Brisbane

“It would be one of the most meaningful things I could do in my life if I was around here to play finals with the club,” Martin said.

“It would make it all the more sweet having been through to downs that we’ve had to be around for the ups as well.

“I would love to stay at the Lions, I would like to be around for as long as I can.”