Drummond said the Lions had learnt from their 16-point opening round loss to the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco and know what they need to do to quell a Magpie forward line led by big men Anthony Rocca and Travis Cloke.
“Collingwood won at the Gabba last year so it’s a big challenge for us,” Drummond said.
“But we’ll take a bit from our game against the Eagles and the fact that we showed a bit of character coming back from six goals down at quarter time.
“We’ve got to build a bit of a fortress back at the Gabba because it hasn’t been that the last few years. We’ve got to make it a real tough trip for the other teams and Collingwood’s always a blockbuster, so we’ll be ready to go.”
The Brisbane defence at times appeared under-sized against the West Coast who rested ruckmen Dean Cox and Mark Seaby in the goal square to great effect. Cox and Seaby each scored goals at key stages of the game and helped the Eagles’ small forwards to control the forward 50 in the home side’s six-goal opening quarter.
Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews said the ground level dominance of the West Coast forwards was a bigger influence than the height factor.
“As I’ve said over and over again, I’m not worried about the height of our defence,” Matthews said.
“I mean if you’ve got Seaby and Cox who are 200 centimetres they’re going to outreach you at times. But I didn’t think it was the height of their forward line, even with what we had tonight - that was the least of our problems.”
Drummond has backed his coach’s assessment saying the Lions defensive structure was built around a balance between height and run.
“Subiaco is a tough place to play. We tried to pick a quick running side, that’s what we won with here last year and we were confident with that this time around,” Drummond said.
“Guys like myself and Joel MacDonald are probably playing a bit above our weight but we’re comfortable doing that because it gives us good run out of the backline.
“I think on a big ground like this on a hot day like it was, I think if you put an extra tall in there then it costs you run.
“In the end the difference in the game wasn’t that the fact that we got stretched down back, it was that they kicked a lot of goals from snaps and the ball hitting the ground as opposed to contested marks, so that definitely wasn’t a factor.”
The run generated by Drummond, MacDonald and Colm Begley was a key factor in the Lions’ fightback which saw them claw their way back into the lead after trailing by 37 points in the first quarter.
Drummond said the six-goal haul from Jonathan Brown and the successful return of Daniel Bradshaw had given a huge boost to the Lions’ 2008 hopes.
