CHRIS Fagan has put the onus on his young Brisbane team to show some maturity this week and back up its breakthrough win over Fremantle with another against Carlton.
The Lions haven't won back-to-back matches since rounds six and seven in 2015 but have a golden chance to do so against the bottom-of-the-ladder Blues at the Gabba on Saturday.
After thumping Freo by 55 points on Sunday, the Lions stayed in Perth and returned to Brisbane on Monday night.
The Lions coach said he left it up to the players to decide how much time they should use to reflect on winning and how quickly they should turn their attention to the upcoming match.
"It's in the hands of the players to show some maturity this week, move on quickly and get ourselves ready for Carlton," Fagan said.
"I know what they'll be like, they'll be desperate to beat us, so it's going to be on."
The Lions have won just twice this season and Carlton once, and the contest pits Fagan against Brendon Bolton, whom he formerly mentored in their days together at Hawthorn.
Fagan said he had no reason to believe the Lions would not be switched on.
"They're all the things we've got to do if we want to become a good team, start stringing wins together, win on the road – it was the first win for a while (since 2010) in Perth on the weekend.
"There's no reason we can't take that next challenge in our stride.
"They're hungry.
"They spent a lot of time talking about it yesterday morning. It wasn't me pushing them, it was them pushing each other."
In a good start to the week for Brisbane, number one draft pick Cam Rayner was this week's NAB Rising Star nominee, but Fagan revealed the young star was close to not playing.
"He was pretty disappointed with his performance (the previous week) against GWS … probably lucky to stay in the side and he knew it.
"It was a good sign he responded to that performance with a better one this week.
"It was a real glimpse into what his potential is, because he's nowhere near reaching that at the moment.
"He's a good team player, which I really like about Cam."
