Just moments after last season's humbling preliminary final loss to Geelong, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan was already planting the seeds for change ahead of 2023.

Although the Lions had made waves in September with thrilling victories over Melbourne and Richmond, they were a long way short against eventual premier Geelong.

Since that 71-point loss, plenty has changed at Brisbane as it attempts to win a first premiership since 2003.

Most notably the playing list got an injection of quality on every line with the additions of Josh Dunkley, Jack Gunston, Will Ashcroft and Conor McKenna in what was one of the great off-seasons for a top-four team in recent memory.

The club moved into its new training and administration headquarters at Springfield, in Brisbane's west. No more travelling between three or four different venues during pre-season.

Line coaches changed roles. Murray Davis went from defence to the forward line, while Jed Adcock flipped with him, going from the forwards to defence. Dale Morris is a new development coach, while Ben Hudson is now in charge of the VFL team.

Brisbane has been to four straight finals series without making a Grand Final, and Fagan realised things need to be kept fresh.

They were ranked 10th for points conceded in 2022, but to look at the defensive unit only is far too simplistic and unfair to a part of the ground that was often left exposed by failings further afield.

In a lengthy interview with AFL.com.au, Fagan said the loss to Geelong solidified his thoughts on what needed to be addressed.

"Geelong is a fantastic running side," Fagan said.

"So, for me to say in our meeting post that game one of the things we were going to have to get better at is our running game, it was pretty clear that was the case.

"We got a great lesson on it in the prelim final.

"That's probably a critical thing and we had a bigger focus in our pre-season and everyone returning to training in better shape, which happened."

It's an issue Brisbane has been aware of for a while, drafting Harry Sharp and James Tunstill in recent years to help bolster its running brigade.

While neither have become regulars early in their careers, Lachie Neale, Hugh McCluggage and Zac Bailey are among those that have made great strides in that department while being pushed from beneath.

The thinking is a team of stronger runners will partly help solve the defensive problems, which were glaring at times last season.

Melbourne (twice) opened up the Lions in big home-and-away games, while Richmond and the Cats also showed how Fagan's team could be exposed. It's primarily the elite teams troubling Brisbane, but that's what it's being judged against.

"It's a good lesson to us," Fagan said.

"They're the better teams, you've got to take notice of that. It'd been an area of growth for us for quite a few years, but it did go a little bit backwards last year, so it's been something we've worked on hard over the pre-season, we've re-focussed on it.

"That's half the battle with defence, the focus on it.

"It's attitudinal, it's personnel, it's a little bit of structure stuff.

"It's never any one thing, it's always a number of things.

"We've probably put more time and effort into it at training."

The "personnel" component Fagan refers to includes the acquisition of former Western Bulldog Dunkley, who came to the club in the dying minutes of the Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period and has made a huge impression in his first few months.

With ball-winners like Neale and McCluggage and the explosive pace of Bailey and former captain Dayne Zorko, making the most of winning stoppages has not been an issue.

However, getting the balance right of attack and defence has been at times, and Fagan is confident Dunkley – along with some tinkering elsewhere – can help tip the scales back to even.

"I think his greatest strength, and I don't know this for sure, I'd say he's one of the better two-way runners in amongst the midfield group in the AFL," he said.

"A lot of the AFL midfielders have a slight bent towards offence, which is why they're good, but this bloke is equally good at both, and they're rare, and we've got one.

"He'll help us no-end in that regard.

"He's a bigger body as well, so he can pave the way for some of the other lads that play in and around there.

"I think we'll mostly see Josh play as a midfielder, an inside mid, but he's a good mark and can challenge up forward, so he'll get minutes up there and we know he can play on the wing as well."

Another hyped addition was Ashcroft, the son of former triple premiership Lion Marcus and taken at No.2 in the draft.

Fagan has been so blown away by the teenager and said it wouldn't surprise him if Ashcroft played every game in his first season.

"The one thing that really sticks out is he's the most professional 18-year-old I've ever struck and there's not much we can teach him about elite performance that he doesn't already know and isn't already applying," he said.

"He's quite exceptional really. He's got an old head in terms of how he goes about it.

"That's often what you spend a lot of time doing with boys in their first, second, third years, teaching them how to be professional sportsmen and how to live a lifestyle that's required.

"Not with Will, we've gone past that and just about playing the game and how he can be the best player he can be for our team."

What the changes add up to, only time will tell, but just like Fagan's trialled move of playing Cam Rayner in defence, the Lions coach believes if you don't try things you'll never know.

"I think now we're right in our window," he said.

"I don't know how long it will last for, but we're not a particularly old group. We've got a lot of players that are 23 to 28 that are about to play the best years of their career hopefully.

"I feel coming into this season, and you always need a little bit of luck with injury, but in terms of our list and our experiences we've had, we're sort of primed to have a real decent crack at it."