Chris Fagan says Brisbane could not ask for a better finals preparation in the next fortnight with matches against Geelong and Richmond.
The Gabba is officially a sellout for Saturday's clash with the Cats, while the Lions are also expecting a bumper crowd when they play the Tigers in round 23 at the MCG.
Brisbane is currently locked in a three-way tie at the top – second on percentage – and could finish anywhere from first to fifth heading into September.
"It's great to be playing two other teams … who are high up on the ladder, and it gives us a good opportunity to see where we sit," Fagan said.
"Those two teams are highly credentialed, regular finalists over the last couple of years, so we couldn't ask for a better preparation.
"(They're) Golden opportunities for us to practice in finals-like environments."
The Lions have won eight straight matches and nine of 10 at the Gabba in 2019, but have not beaten either Geelong or Richmond in Fagan's three-year reign.
In fact, they have won just two of the past 20 matches against the Cats, and haven't beaten Chris Scott's men since the 'Miracle on Grass' in 2013 when milestone man Ash McGrath kicked a goal after the siren.
Fagan said his team had improved markedly from its only Gabba defeat this year, a round five Easter Thursday mauling from Collingwood.
"The thing we learnt about the Collingwood game is 'just have a normal week boys, it's nothing special. It's just another game of football'.
"It's Brisbane playing Geelong tomorrow, it doesn't matter how many people turn up, it doesn't matter what the positions are on the ladder, we just have to do what we do every week."
Fagan said it would be "system against system", and he wasn't focused on breaking another hoodoo as the Lions have done so often in 2019.
"Because we've been a pretty poor team for a few years, a lot of teams have had domination over us," he said.
"For us to be good, we've had to break those hoodoos, or whatever you want to call them.
"This is an opportunity to show our growth and our improvement.
"If you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best and it's another opportunity this week."
