WITH his team fit and in-form, Chris Fagan says this is Brisbane's best chance to chase a premiership in his time at the club.

The Lions locked up second place with a gritty 12-point win over St Kilda on Saturday night and will now host two finals at the Gabba, starting with a qualifying final in a fortnight.

It's the fifth straight year Brisbane has made the top eight and its coach believes this is their best opportunity to taste the ultimate success.

LIONS v SAINTS Full match coverage and stats

Although Will Ashcroft will be unavailable in September following his knee reconstruction, half-forward Lincoln McCarthy (calf) is expected back for the first final to complete an almost full strength 22.

And then there's Brisbane's form.

Outlasting the Saints completed a terrific second half of the season following a post-bye loss to Hawthorn.

"Yeah, it's probably the best shape we've been in," Fagan said.

"Last year we were win one, lose one, win one, lose one for 10-12 weeks coming into finals and this year we've been much more consistent.

"I think that's a good thing for your players to know that mentally.

"If you finish top two you've had a good year … hopefully that gives us a lot of confidence.

"We got better in finals last year and we want to build on that again this year."

Fagan said from 2019, when his team first qualified for finals, until now, the younger group had gained significant experience, sighting the likes of Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry, Cam Rayner, Zac Bailey and Brandon Starcevich as players that were now battle tested.

Brisbane’s best results under Fagan came with preliminary final appearances in 2020 and 2022, where it was eliminated by Geelong both times.

They got a good glimpse of what the next month would look like against the Saints, having to grind out a victory after a wasteful first quarter that kept their opponents in the game.

St Kilda took the lead fleetingly in the third quarter, and like they've had to so often in the past month, the Lions had to find a way to grind out a close win.

Fagan said the home finals guaranteed nothing, despite his team being a perfect 11-from-11 at the Gabba in 2023.

"We've played a few finals up here and had a couple of narrow losses by less than a goal," he said.

"When the best play the best I reckon the venue becomes less of a factor. I think it's certainly an advantage, and the fact is you don't have to travel for a few weeks and that's helpful in itself."

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was upbeat about his team's finals chances despite the loss, saying the second half improvement capped an excellent five-week stretch that had them well prepared.

Lyon said his team would likely get Max King back for their elimination final, with the full-forward having resumed training after "jamming" his knee last week.

Josh Battle was ruled out with concussion at half-time following an earlier head knock. The Saint resumed playing before eventually being ruled out, which Lyon explained.

"The doctors assessed him, did a SCAT test, it was clear and then he went south from there and they tapped him out," Lyon said.

Hunter Clark also suffered a corked leg but is expected to be fine, while Seb Ross is likely to be back from a hamstring injury.

"I think we go in good order to whoever we play, wherever we play and we're really looking forward to it.

"The real season is starting, this is just qualifying."