Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan takes some of the blame for his side’s failure to finish the job against Melbourne

The Brisbane Lions have worked hard on knowing how to close out games ahead of their battle with Geelong at the Gabba.

Lions coach Chris Fagan says he and his team have learnt lessons from their narrow loss to Melbourne. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says he’s partly to blame for the Lions’ poor finish in their one-point loss to Melbourne and to not expect a similar fade-out from his side for the rest of the season.

The Lions will on Saturday seek redemption against Geelong after throwing away what seemed a certain victory over the Demons at the MCG last Friday night.

Down by 28 points, Melbourne staged a remarkable final-quarter comeback to kick the game’s winning goal with less than 40 seconds remaining.

The loss could prove extremely costly in third-placed Brisbane’s bid for a top-two finish.

However, Fagan said the lessons learnt from the defeat would prove beneficial in the long term to his players and himself.

“The learnings we took were mostly (from) the last 15 minutes, (and) what we can do better in that scenario,” he said.

“The coach is a little bit guilty there. We haven’t had a close finish for a long time, so it hasn’t been on our agenda, but we should have been probably practising that situation a little bit more at training.

“That certainly prompted us to do that. We had a good chat about those situations, and what we’d do differently, so it’s valuable learning.

“We got so much out of that game last week, except for the four points. It would have been nice to get the four points but we didn’t, but we learnt a lot about ourselves and we came away from that game feeling really confident about our brand on the MCG.”

Lions star Josh Dunkley will return on Saturday from a calf injury. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Confidence is never an issue for the Lions at the Gabba, where they are unbeaten this season.

However, this weekend’s visit of the Cats will be another test of the Lions’ premiership credentials, with the reigning premiers having found form in recent weeks.

“They’ve had the edge on us, it would be fair to say,” Fagan said.

“The game on (Saturday), there’s a lot riding on it. It’ll be a big occasion for a finals-like game. I’m sure both teams will be looking forward to playing it.”

Attacking weapon Zac Bailey will miss the match with a calf injury, with Fagan also saying Bailey was in doubt for Saturday week’s QClash against the Suns.

His absence gives the versatile Callum Ah Chee – who has just re-signed with the Lions for two more yeas – another AFL opportunity after he was concussed late in Brisbane’s 81-point thrashing of Richmond last month.

“Cal Ah Chee’s been a really solid performer for us,” Fagan said.

“It was disappointing for him that he got that concussion the other day because he was going well, so he resumes (on Saturday) and hopefully he can play really well.”

Star off-season recruit Josh Dunkley also returns from a calf injury, replacing Jarryd Lyons in Brisbane’s 22.