THERE is little chance Brisbane will take West Coast lightly on Saturday night, with the two-time premiers using a proven method to ready themselves for the Eagles.

In recent years the Lions have regularly flown to away venues two days in advance, rather than one, to give themselves additional time to prepare.

They are doing likewise ahead of facing the Eagles, leaving Brisbane on Thursday to land in Perth a full 48 hours before playing.

Taking the extra day was something the Lions learned from their 2023 Grand Final loss against Collingwood, where arriving in enemy territory two days before the decider felt like a rush with all the commitments they faced.

The past two years they have flown to Melbourne three days before beating Sydney and Geelong and it’s a trend they’ve used through the home and away season.

Two weeks ago the Lions headed to Geelong on the Tuesday before beating them on Thursday night.

Earlier in the season it was a Thursday departure before beating St Kilda in a lunch time Saturday slot.

All up, they’ve won 11 of their past 12 games with the extra day to prepare.

"We do that quite a bit, which is great," coach Chris Fagan said.

"This game really matters for us, in terms of spots on the ladder and what we aspire to.

"We’ve got to make sure our attention to detail is really good, and that’s part of it, getting over there early and being ready."

Brisbane has played 43 games since last meeting West Coast in round one, 2025, with the Eagles undergoing a dramatic personnel change from that encounter.

"I found myself scrambling, watching vision, looking at their players and trying to get an understanding of what their strengths and vulnerabilities are," Fagan said.

"Our job is to make sure our players are really well prepared to play against a team that have been really competitive for a fair part of the year."

One man the Lions coach won’t have to do too much homework on is defender Brandon Starcevich, who will play his former club for the first time since returning to his home state during the off-season.

Starcevich will be the first player Fagan has coached against that was part of his premiership teams.

And who does he think the rugged Eagles defender will go to?

"It could be any of those small forwards, we’ve got Charie (Cameron) or Kai (Lohmann) or it could even be Cam Rayner.

"Imagine those two bulls going at each other? That’d be a bit of fun. That’s the one I hope for," he smirked.