BRISBANE coach Chris Fagan says beating Melbourne in Friday night's blockbuster at the Gabba comes down to one simple thing.
The Demons have soundly taken care of the Lions in their past three encounters, mostly recently by 64 points at the MCG eight weeks ago.
Fagan said his team was well aware of the ramifications of the match – a top-four berth for the victor and a likely elimination final slot for the loser – but it had narrowed in on the process.
And that meant one area.
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"They've beaten us the last three times and from half-time in the game we played them in the middle of last year (in round 12), they've had a clear advantage of us," Fagan said.
"That's been mostly contested ball.
"That's obviously been a big focus of ours, not just this week, we've been working on that since the last time we played them to be honest.
"We have gotten better, but the true test will be tomorrow night as to how much better we've gotten.
"That's the key to the battle, it's a waste of time talking about everything else, that's the thing."
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Melbourne won the contested ball battle by 17 in the second half of last year's round 12 battle, by 21 in the qualifying final and by 38 earlier this year.
Brisbane has won four of its past five matches, a run which Fagan says has been the perfect preparation against teams desperately vying for spots in the eight.
He said the Lions had "tactically done a few different things" to rectify the contested ball numbers recently and would be better off with the inclusions of captain Dayne Zorko, Rhys Mathieson and Zac Bailey from the team that lost in round 15.
And the Lions will be ready for a possible tag on Lachie Neale, despite James Harmes being the unused medical sub the past two weeks.
"Come hell or high water, whatever happens, Lachie will be on his best game tomorrow night," Fagan said.
"I thought last week, I know St Kilda will probably be happy with the job they did and Lachie only had 16 touches, but it was the best 16-touch game he's ever had for us.
"He was really influential, had eight clearances, did a lot of pressure acts for us and enabled others to get free to win the footy.
"We were super pleased with the role he played last week. It's not always about how much Lachie gets the ball, it's about what role he plays for the team."
