CHRIS Fagan says the hiding his Brisbane Lions copped from Port Adelaide seven weeks ago is still fresh in their memories.
In round six Port gave the Lions an 83-point flogging at the Gabba, and the Lions coach says they've learnt plenty ahead of their meeting at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
"It was probably our worst performance of the year," Fagan said on Thursday.
"We weren't too pleased with the way we played that night.
"We didn't defend well – we went to sleep.
"They started well which I think put us off guard a bit. I think our young team was a bit panicky after that and made a lot of mistakes.
"We'll have to play very well to beat them over there."
Fagan said of the 11 teams the Lions had played in 2017 (they haven't met Geelong or GWS of the top four), Port was the best so far.
He said while the Lions would gain confidence from their second win of the season last weekend, the Power presented a totally different challenge to Fremantle.
"It's harder over there," he said.
"Port will be fired up after their loss last week. They try to make that stadium a cauldron."
One huge plus for the Lions is the likelihood of an unchanged lineup, including a starting midfield of Stefan Martin, Dayne Beams, Tom Rockliff and Dayne Zorko that feasted against the Dockers.
Fagan said while having those four in the centre square was a huge boost, the team's growth would come elsewhere in the second half of the year.
"The pleasing part of our midfield last week was (Jarrod) Berry, (Rhys) Mathieson, (Hugh) McCluggage and the depth they added, (And Tom) Cutler on the wing.
"That's what we need to do.
"We know those guys (Beams, Rockliff, Zorko, Martin) are A-grade quality players, we just need to put more depth around them so they don't have to carry the weight every week and they're not easy targets for the opposition."