BRISBANE is only a small part of the way there, but coach Chris Fagan says he can feel his team slowly earning the respect of the competition.
Following wins over Fremantle, Carlton and Hawthorn, the Lions will be out to make it four on the trot against Adelaide on Saturday night – a feat the club hasn't achieved since 2010.
In a week when supporters and media from around the country have thrown more goodwill the Lions way than any time this decade, Fagan said he was happy for the players to "enjoy their moment".
"It's probably been a foreign concept for this group to win matches in a row, so it's been interesting to see how they've coped with it," Fagan said at his weekly press conference on Friday.
"The media and the attention around the footy club has changed, so I wonder what we'll be saying tomorrow night at the end of it. Did we cope with it, didn't we?
"If publicity is something we have to learn to cope with, that means we're becoming a better club.
"I think they're enjoying their moment, and there's nothing wrong for a group that has been down a long, long time to feel the joy that you feel from winning on a regular basis.
"We'll see tomorrow night whether they've coped with the week or not, but I'm pretty confident they'll be able to show the form they've displayed in the last three weeks."
Fagan said internally, nothing had changed. He expected improvement from his team over the final six weeks of the season, and was happy if that resulted in more wins.
Just like the start of the season, he was marking things like quarters won, points conceded and contested footy more than the win-loss column.
Despite having just four wins, the Lions have rightfully pointed to development in these areas the entire season, and Fagan says the improvement hasn't gone unnoticed by opposition teams.
"We want to earn some respect in the competition," he said.
"I wouldn't say we've achieved that yet, but we've taken a few steps forward in recent times.
"Winning has been a tougher task for us this year because teams have taken us more seriously than they did last year.
"Wins have been a bit more hard-fought and we've treasured them a bit more for that reason.
"In our own planning each week we know the opposition is going to do certain things to stop us, so we have to work hard as a team to overcome that.
"It's all part of growing up as a footy team and footy club.
"You don't want to be that team that everyone sees as the bye week and rests a few players, and I haven't sensed that in any team we've played this year."
That's evident ahead of Saturday's match against the Crows, who have selected Mitch McGovern to come straight back into the senior team after 10 weeks out with an ankle injury.
"They're hungry for a spot in the finals and a victory for them tomorrow, their whole season hinges on that, so they're going to turn up pretty desperate," Fagan said.
"We're enjoying winning and we want to keep winning and we want to give our fans something to cheer about."
