BRISBANE Lions captain Jonathan Brown has declared his side is now assured of making its first finals appearance since 2004.
The confident prediction comes despite the Lions having registered only 11 wins, one short of the magical 12 wins, usually considered necessary to make the playoffs.
The Lions are three games clear of ninth-placed Essendon and on the verge of cracking the top four should they beat the Bulldogs at the Gabba on Saturday night.
“It’s probably fair to say we’re there now,” Brown said on Wednesday.
“We haven’t got that thing of finals hanging over our head so now we need to put that aside and not just be an also ran, and really attack these next three weeks.”
Just scraping into the top eight is not on Brown’s mind, as he readjusts his focus to getting a double chance in September.
The skipper has urged his players to start getting excited, saying they’ve been a bit flat in recent weeks as they battled a heavy travel schedule.
“Three out of the last four weeks we’ve been away which has maybe taken a bit of a toll on the players,” Brown said.
“So it would be great to get back on the home deck for the next fortnight, it should really rejuvinate all the players.”
The Lions have back-to-back Saturday night games at the Gabba against the Bulldogs and Port Adelaide, before a tough road trip to Sydney to take on the Swans in the final round.
Brown said that with finals looming, players are starting to get a buzz at training.
“The guys are generally excited so hopefully our mindset has changed a little bit,” Brown said.
“I’m very excited about it and when you’ve got that excitement it helps with your motivation in training.
“This is the most exciting time of the year, August, September, if you’re still a chance this is what you play footy for.”
Brown says the Lions injury list is shortening, with ruckman Matthew Leuenberger (knee) and Rhan Hooper (hamstring) back training on Wednesday and Jed Adcock (knee) now set to return for week one of the finals.
Midfielder Travis Johnstone is also pushing hard for a recall leading into finals.
“I know Travis will be in the mix,” Brown said.
“He played really well in the reserves on the weekend.
“He’s been the travelling emergency for the last fortnight so he’s definitely putting his hand up for selection.”
Brown also commended the AFL’s crackdown on bumping players off the ball saying that it worked on the weekend with defenders and taggers heeding the warning.
“The AFL made it pretty clear, so obviously they (the players) listened to it, so the umpires really didn’t have to police it too much,” Brown said.
