The eighth-placed Lions will go into the match having lost three of their past four matches, including a four-point nail biter against Richmond at Telstra Dome five days ago.
Instead of training at Coorparoo on Wednesday, the Lions boarded a bus to the Gold Coast to scope the weekend’s venue.
And in another break from standard practice, the playing group will also travel to the ground on Saturday via bus, rather than individual cars.
"As much as anything it was a change-up – a different environment – and I think it was also good for us to go down there all together on the bus,” Brown told lions.com.au.
"Getting a look at the ground and having a run on the surface will probably help us out as well.
"From past history it’s the kind of ground that does get pretty dewy and, with the cold weather, I reckon all the boys will be giving a fair bit of thought to what kind of footwear they go with.”
Although the Lions’ last month of football has seen them drop from top-four aspirants to the lower reaches of the eight, Brown says he and his teammates aren’t all that far off clicking.
The Lions are 1-3 since defeating Adelaide at the Gabba in Round 13, having beaten second-bottom West Coast and squandered second-half leads against Melbourne, Essendon and the Tigers.
"We’ve probably struggled to string a full four quarters together all season, even earlier in the year when we were playing well,” Brown said.
"We were a pretty somber lot straight after the Richmond game – it was a pretty hard loss to take.
"But I think there are a fair few positives to take out of it. We played some really good footy at times and I also think we are starting to get the intensity around the footy and the contests back to where it needs to be.”
With the Kangaroos potentially eyeing off a double-chance after jumping to fifth on the ladder, Brown expects no lack of intensity in Saturday night’s showdown.
"Everybody knows about the old Shinboner Spirit,” he said.
"But North Melbourne are just a terrific team outside of that and their tackling and the way they work for each other is first-class.”
