CHRIS Fagan summed it up best at his weekly press conference on Thursday, saying Geelong was the one team that had the wood on his Lions in 2020.
Brisbane's coach rightly said the Cats "dominated" his team.
And the numbers tell a damning story.
Although Hawthorn and Richmond also beat Fagan's men last year, it was Geelong that embarrassed Brisbane not once, but twice.
Perhaps the round six loss at the neutral SCG was less of an embarrassment for the Lions as a muscle-flex by the Cats, as they rattled on seven third quarter goals to blow an otherwise even game wide open.
It's the preliminary final that will live in the minds of Brisbane's players, coaches and supporters, though.
Despite the home team somehow still being in touch early in the final quarter, Geelong's 40-point win flattered the hosts.
So how does Brisbane flip the tables on a team that had its measure last year and at a venue it hasn't enjoyed success at since 2003?
Midfielder Jarryd Lyons said there was no escaping the fact Geelong was a seasoned, experienced team with plenty of talent that was hard to beat.
"In round six we just had one bad quarter, so we weren't too disappointed about that – other than that the game was pretty even," Lyons told AFL.com.au.
"In the prelim final they just came with a well set-out plan, got us in the contest and got the ball to the outside, which is something we normally do.
"They just executed that really well. Unfortunately, we didn't turn up and they smacked us."
Brisbane did defeat Geelong at the Gabba in round 22 of 2019, with three late goals capped by Lincoln McCarthy's skyscraping mark and set shot edging them home by one point.
But the statistics from last year's 2-0 head-to-head should concern the Lions.
They generated the third most scores from stoppages in 2020 - 27 points a game - yet lost that count by a combined 63-20 to Geelong.
Perhaps the biggest area of concern was the contested ball. Geelong looked like men. Brisbane looked like adolescents.
The Cats won that statistic by 16 and 20 respectively.
They hauled in an extra 29 and 21 marks in both matches and gathered an additional 83 and 65 disposals.
There was spot-fires everywhere.
This all led to an extra seven percent of time in possession in the home-and-away match, and a whopping 10 percent extra in the preliminary final.
Brisbane's pressure rating was poor - the lowest of the four preliminary final teams.
It didn't improve in round one last Saturday night against Sydney, ranked 14th in the competition in a performance Fagan described as "lazy" on the defensive side.
Lyons said they would have to improve substantially at GMHBA Stadium to prevent a repeat of the one-way traffic from last year.
"If you're leaking scores from stoppages, it's not necessarily just from midfield, but it starts with us," he said.
"It depends how well you get the ball out of the stoppage … it can lead to leaking scores pretty quickly.
"We have to improve, but it has to be a whole team thing.
"It's something we do pride ourselves on and something they've beaten us in the last two times, which has been disappointing."
He also felt Adelaide provided a glimpse into something that could be crucial to success in its round one upset over Chris Scott's team.
"Getting the ball to ground in the forward 50 helps," he said.
"If we stop them from marking and not allowing them to move the ball from D50, which they like to do, it's a good start.
"It'll be on our tall forwards to bring the ball to ground.
"Adelaide did it well last week, so there's probably a blueprint in that."
From winning the contest to pressuring from the forward line back, Brisbane has a few areas to improve to cause an upset.
However, it never lost successive matches in 2020, and Lyons says they're hungry to ensure things start that way in 2021.
"They got us on those two occasions last year, but I wouldn't say we fear them," he said.
"Geelong at Geelong, it's one of the toughest away trips in footy, but any game would be good coming off last week.
"The boys are just excited to get back out there and prove a point."
