BRISBANE will play for Oscar McInerney in Saturday's Grand Final, with the injured ruckman to sit on the Lions bench to inspire his teammates, coach Chris Fagan said.
McInerney dislocated his shoulder twice in last weekend's preliminary final win over Geelong and has been replaced by Darcy Fort for the decider.
Fagan described McInerney as culturally important to Brisbane and wanted the gangly ruckman to play a role on Grand Final day.
"We asked for 'O' to sit on the bench tomorrow and be a bit of a voice to the players, which he will be," Fagan said at Friday's coach and captain press conference in Melbourne.
"He knew when he hurt his shoulder the first time last week that his season was probably over.
"He bravely went back on and gave us another 45 or 50 minutes knowing that.
"That was quite inspirational for his teammates. He put the team before himself and that 45 minutes really helped us.
"That's the type of guy he is.
"We'll go out there and try and play for him tomorrow."
Fort's inclusion means there will be six Brisbane players running out against Sydney that were not there against Collingwood last year.
Following the four-point loss to the Magpies, Fagan got his players to write their thoughts about the Grand Final on a piece of paper to put into a "time capsule".
On the eve of this year's finals series, Brisbane revisited those thoughts.
"Grand Finals always come back to moments," Fagan said.
"We looked at that immediately after the Grand Final and talked about what we learnt so that if we were lucky enough to get back there again, then we'd carry those lessons with us.
"All those things are fresh in the players' minds and hopefully it will help them tomorrow."
Dynamic half-forward Cam Rayner said it was a tool that allowed him to reflect on his own performance 12 months ago.
"I don't necessarily base my game off disposals, but I just felt like I didn't really have much of an impact last year," he said.
"Whether that be the case this year, I want to make sure I can turn it around and really have an impact."
