Brisbane coach Michael Voss certain the Tigers will bare claws at Gabba

BRISBANE coach Michael Voss is at a loss to explain Richmond's recent stranglehold over the Lions.

Ashley McGrath

BRISBANE coach Michael Voss is at a loss to explain Richmond's recent stranglehold over the Lions.

But he is certain the Tigers will bare their claws at the Gabba tonight.

Brisbane has not beaten Richmond since Round 7, 2009 when it scored a 26-point win at the MCG that is best remembered for the sickening head clash between Troy Selwood and Alex Rance.

The Tigers have won the last three encounters between the big cats of the AFL but will be hurting after suffering a hat-trick of heartbreaking losses in the past three weeks to all but end hopes of making a rare appearance in September.

The clubs share a 7-10 win-loss record and will both view this Round 19 clash as an imminently winnable fixture that can help heal recent wounds, with Brisbane coming off a 98-point thrashing by West Coast last Sunday.

Voss hopes that the recent and inexplicable history between the teams does not repeat itself.

"Sometimes it's just not explainable why a team has a good record against another, they just do because of certain circumstances, " he said.

"Even before this we struggled to beat Richmond in 2005 and 2006 so they will come up here with some confidence knowing that they have done well in the past."

It's up to us to conquer that past.

"But every contest is different."

"We haven't talked about the history but what we have talked about is playing at our home ground and putting on a good performance for our supporters.

Given the gut-wrenching nature of their past three defeats, Richmond could go one of two ways tonight.

The Tigers could be full of fighting spirit or fall flat after a rough roller-coaster ride in the past month.

Voss is expecting the former but said the Tigers do not have a mortgage on motivation.