Brisbane will be without ruck Oscar McInerney for Saturday's AFL Grand Final after he dislocated his shoulder twice during his side's thrilling preliminary final win on Saturday.

Lions coach Chris Fagan confirmed that McInerney was a certain out for next week's decider, with Darcy Fort or Henry Smith the likely replacement to take on Sydney's Brodie Grundy.

"He's full of heart, and he's a bloke that just gives himself to the team," Fagan said of McInerney post-match.

"He just does that, and that's why he's admired so much, so it'll be a downer for us that he can't play in the Grand Final, but I know the boys will probably find a way to use that as a dedication for the game as well.

"Obviously the shoulder dislocated, came back in pretty quickly, but unfortunately he got another knock, and it popped out again. So, I think that's a signal that there's a bit of laxity in the ligaments around the shoulder and that'll put him out for next week."

A tough lead into the game allowing the Lions to gather momentum, is something Fagan believes helped his side get over the top of Geelong, who won straight through to the prelim having played one game in three weeks.

"This is not Geelong's fault, but if you look at their last game of the season against West Coast, they were 100 points in front at half-time. It was a low-pressure, low-contested game. Then they have the week off, and then they play Port in a final where it was a similar sort of game, low-pressure, low-contest game. Then they have another week off," Fagan said.

"I just felt like, it's good to have the time off, but you need the games that you play to be really hard, tough games, and maybe at the end that showed. Our harder preparation enabled us to run the game out, and I would have thought that would have been a real challenge."

Fagan is pleased with the resilience his side has developed over the last 12 months, helping it qualify for a second consecutive Grand Final.

After a lean start to the season, in which the Lions sat 13th after eight rounds with a record of three wins and five losses, they were forced to get creative.

Serious knee injuries to first-choice quartet Lincoln McCarthy, Darcy Gardiner, Keidean Coleman, and Tom Doedee compounded the situation, but opened the door for a new breed of Lion to get some much-needed experience.

"If you'd have said to me at the halfway mark of the season (that) we're going to be playing in the Grand Final at the end of the year, I probably would have said to you 'you're crazy'," Fagan said.

"I'm feeling very proud of our group, not just for the resilience that they showed tonight, but for the resilience that they've shown throughout the year. We were in a pretty dicey situation."

Kai Lohmann was one of those Lions, who earned his opportunity in the face of injury earlier this year, and has gone from strength to strength as the season has worn on. The 21-year-old proved crucial to Brisbane's fortunes in the second half, in which it pegged back Geelong's 19-point half-time lead.

"He played a tremendous game," Fagan said of the young forward.

"And I'm just too happy with all of our young guys, what they've been able to contribute for pretty much most of the year. A lot of them look like they're going to be fairly good footballers for the Brisbane Lions for a long time to come. So, these experiences that they're getting now, they're worth their weight in gold."

The other player that Fagan credited with leading the comeback was former No.1 draft pick Cam Rayner, who finished the game with two goals from 18 disposals, including the sealer.

"He lifted magnificently in that second half. I thought he (was) arguably the best player on the ground in the second half… he was massively important tonight," Fagan said.

Now, with a Grand Final against another non-Victorian team in Sydney on the horizon, Fagan and his Lions will tweak their planning during the week, taking lessons from last years' experience.

"It'll be interesting to be involved in a Grand Final where you're not playing a Melbourne team, and they just sit back and wait for you to fly down and play the game. We've both got similar preparation ahead of us next week," Fagan said.

"Sydney, who've clearly been the best team of the season, we had a really tight battle with them not so long ago, and it's going to be a really tough game next week and hopefully we can give a good showing of ourselves, like we did tonight."

Fagan confirmed that Brisbane will travel to Melbourne on Wednesday – a day earlier than it did ahead of the 2023 Grand Final – to settle into the week.

Co-captain Lachie Neale, who has been playing through a foot injury, has also been confirmed to play, but will have another light week on the training track.

"I'm telling you now, he's playing next week," Fagan said with a wry grin.

Neale was among the Lions' best players, netting 31 disposals and 12 clearances to offer an important presence around the contest.

"He had a good training session on Thursday, he actually trained fully, did very little early in the week. The reason why he didn't train yesterday is because he trained on Thursday, so (we) didn't want to put him out there three days in a row," Fagan said.

"He can handle injury. He's played a lot over the last three or four years with things that most human beings wouldn't consider playing football with, but that's just him.

"He's got those chunky little legs of his that are so strong, that's what helps get him through."