BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has reiterated his players' calls from earlier in the week that nothing short of a victory over Collingwood on Saturday night is acceptable.
Vice-captain Tom Rockliff and small forward Todd Banfield were both adamant the 15th-placed Lions were heading to Melbourne to steal the four points from the reigning premier and Voss has backed their calls.
If the Lions can walk as well as they talk, the MCG match might be closer than fans and bookmakers think.
Ahead of Friday's closed training session at the Gabba, Voss said the Lions were more focussed on the process than the result but still had only one goal in Melbourne.
"I don't think anything less than [a win] is acceptable," Voss said.
"Every competitor goes out there thinking they are going to win the game but that's not what you focus on. Other people will talk about that, other people will talk about what's an acceptable standard but we don't talk about that."
The Lions defeated Collingwood by eight points the last time they met back in round 10, 2010, and Voss said his charges could learn some lessons from that match.
He said they had not watched any vision of that win this week but the Lions could take some confidence from the result.
"That was really good execution as far as our game strategy was concerned," he said.
"It's a different year and we have some different personnel in the team and they've probably progressed a bit more. But in the background you know that it's Geelong and us that have had recent victories against them, that should give you some confidence.
"They're the best currently, you can't shy away from that. You can't look at it that you're trying to knock their knees off, you've got to try and come up to their level and that's what we've got to be able to achieve and we get to have a look at that."
Daniel Rich returns to the Lions after missing six matches with a stress reaction in his foot.
The 2009 NAB Rising Star winner starred in the reserves last week and Voss expected him to be full of run for the finish of the season.
He said the match would be won and lost in the midfield, an area the Lions excelled at in last week's 62-point victory over Gold Coast, winning the contested possession count 50-28.
"The contested situation is very important to get our hands on the footy. We were able to get that possession about right last time we played them and that only happens if you get the contested ball right and we have to match that very early on," he said.
Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting
