Basketballers are well-tuned to quick turnarounds and long road trips so Lions coach Chris Fagan has reached out to Australia’s finest for a few tips.
Fagan tapped into the well of experience NBL and Boomers great Phil Smyth possesses as both a player and coach to prepare for Lions for the unusual fixturing that lies ahead.
Brisbane back-up their 37 point win over Port Adelaide on Saturday night with a Thursday night clash against Geelong in Sydney.
Such short turnarounds are not that common in the AFL but could become a regularity as the competition tries to find a way to ensure the season can go ahead in full within the various Government restrictions caused by the Covid 19 pandemic.
"I had a good chat to Phil Smyth who's obviously a basketballer of high note within Australia and also a coach, and basketballers play on short turnarounds all the time," Fagan said
"I've chatted to him about how you go about that. Your preparation's a little bit different, you're more in recovery mode, so we're ready for whatever comes our way."
The former Boomers captain worked in a consultancy role with the Lions last year, and would have done so again this season if not for staff being stood down because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Geelong also played on Saturday and like the Lions, have to travel interstate for the match so Fagan said he didn’t feel either side was at a disadvantage ahead of the game.
The training schedule was disrupted but he said Brisbane would cope and predicted the wealth of experience at the Cats would come into play.
"You can't train much and five-day turnarounds are quite unusual, you don't do them all that often, but it's a similar turnaround for Geelong," Fagan said.
"Their (Geelong) system's really good. They've got an amazing array of experienced players.
"If you look at their midfield - (Gary) Ablett, (Joel) Selwood, (Patrick) Dangerfield - you'd probably say at the end of their careers they're all going to be Hall of Famers.
"Their form's been strong and they always, under Chris Scott, have been tremendously competitive.
"They win a lot of games of football so we know it's going to be a big test.
"We've got a lot of respect for Geelong. They're a club that we we look up to and want to be like."
