The time capsule fuelling the Lions’ bid to avoid grand final heartbreak

The Brisbane Lions have embraced the opportunity to reflect on last year’s grand final disappointment, as coach Chris Fagan sets in motion what he hopes will be premiership redemption against Sydney on Saturday.

A year after a heartbreaking four-point loss to Collingwood, the Lions find themselves back on football’s greatest stage at the MCG, but only after overcoming several hurdles.

Hugh McCluggage is tackled by Colllingwood’s Jordan De Goey in last year’s grand final.Credit: Paul Rovere

They lost their opening three games, and found themselves with only four wins after 10 matches, before a stunning turnaround soon led to nine straight victories.

Through this finals campaign they have had to overcome deficits of 44 points against Greater Western Sydney, and 25 against Geelong, to advance into the big dance.

Fagan had his players pen their thoughts after last year’s defeat to the Magpies, hoping to revisit the time capsule as a group in grand final week if they were again in the grand final.

Star midfielder Hugh McCluggage said recalling last year’s disappointment had been beneficial, having worked this year with Richmond premiership great Trent Cotchin, now a leadership mentor, and renowned sports psychologist Anthony Klarica.

“A lot of mine were off-field, the mental side of things. Probably, last year you want to get to that grand final so bad, you spend a lot of energy throughout the week worrying about the result, or worrying about your teammates,” McCluggage said.

“I have done a lot of work with even ‘Cotch’ and Anthony Klarica just in trusting your teammates and trusting the work you have done up to this point.

“We, as leaders and older players, put a lot of time into our young boys and all of our teammates to make sure that we have put in that body of work, both physically and mentally … we go into this confident that they have done that work, and we can trust that they are going to do what we need them to do when we go out there on game day.”

Gun forward Cam Rayner, who turned last week’s preliminary final with a stunning second half, said he had more confidence than last year that the Lions would win.

Cam Rayner speaking before the grand final parade.Credit: AFL Photos

“One of the things that I put down in my reflection is that as a team, I believe we can win it. Last year I thought we could. This year I am super confident,” he said.

“We probably didn’t really play a lot of good footy last year and lost by only four points. So we are confident that if we can get our game going, play the way we have been playing, we will be able to get the result this week.”

Co-captain Harris Andrews said the time capsules had been a good reminder of what was required.

“We probably let ourselves down in key moments last year during that grand final. They were able to kick some goals late in quarters – probably going away from what we did well as a team for the whole year,” Andrews said.

Fagan said on Friday that “grand finals always come back to moments”, and, among his recollections, he had questioned whether he had put enough time into preparing for eventual Norm Smith medallist Bobby Hill.

“Experiences do help you. We lost by less than a goal – that’s luck sometimes in this game,” Fagan said.

Dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale continues to battle a heel problem which has limited his training, and has seen him walk with a limp.

Neale did little at the captain’s run at the MCG on Friday apart from walk around – he also sat on the turf for a fair chunk of the 30-minute session – and complete a light handball drill. But Fagan said the issue would not stop the champion midfielder from playing. Neale had 31 disposals, including 12 clearances, in the 10-point win over the Cats.

“When he plays it’s not an issue. But it’s a little harder for him during the week to get to train, so we have find other ways to keep him fit and keep his touch up,” Fagan said.

“As you saw last week, he is in pretty good form. He is a really strong-willed person and it won’t be any excuse for him.”

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.