AFL: Lions coach Chris Fagan says beating Geelong will show the Lions are worthy of a place among the game’s elite as Grand Finalists.

The Lions won’t take any fear in to Saturday’s preliminary final showdown with Geelong, and won’t be distracted by the prize on offer, a spot in the AFL grand Final.

Lions coach Chris Fagan will demand a fearless approach from his players against Geelong. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Lions coach Chris Fagan says Brisbane will play fearless football against Geelong declaring that’s the only way his side can progress to a historic home AFL grand final.

Fagan said regardless of the result in Saturday’s preliminary final showdown with the Cats his men would learn a lot about themselves.

The Lions have already progressed a week further in to the finals than they did last season, when they also finished second.

Fagan said a win for his on-the-rise outfit would prove they were worthy of a spot among the AFL’s elite.

“We’ll see how we go and we’ll work out whether we’re good enough to be there or if we’ve still got work to do,” Fagan said.

“It’s not something we fear. We’ll get some feedback on ourselves, one way or the other and we’ll learn from it.

“The last thing you can think about is the grand final. You’ve got to think about the game that you play.

“If you start thinking about other things, you play with a bit more fear. We want to be fearless (on Saturday), so we’ll just focus on the process.”

History will remember 2020, a time when the world stopped... pic.twitter.com/x0eJRyxb3p

— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) October 15, 2020

Fagan is no stranger to the preliminary final arena.

As a Hawthorn and Melbourne assistant coach, he has been to this stage of a season eight times previously.

“In a preliminary final what you can’t get caught up in is the result and the prize at the end of it. You’ve just got to focus on every minute of the game, just doing the right things and then hopefully looking up at the end of the day and done enough of those moments right that you’re positive on the scoreboard.

“They’re generally games that you have to fight till the death. Most of them are close games.”

It was a complete contrast last weekend when the Cats thrashed Collingwood by 68 points in a one-sided semi-final at the Gabba.

Geelong’s performance was inspired by four-goal hero Patrick Dangerfield, with Fagan saying the Lions had devised plans to nullify the Cats star whether he played in the midfield or forward.

“It’s no different to the Dustin Martin situation two weeks ago,” Fagan said in reference to Brisbane having devised multiple plans to stop the Tigers star in the Lions’ 15-point qualifying final win.

“You have a plan for both but ultimately what you want is your team to play really well, so if he’s playing up forward the supply’s limited.

“As we saw last week, if he’s able to get relatively uncontested, easy ball coming in, he’s a nightmare.

“Dusty’s more of a ground-ball player ... whereas Danger’s probably got that ability to lead and jump in the air, so he’s a little bit different.”