LACHIE Neale is a man on a mission ahead of Saturday's date with Greater Western Sydney - with or without Matt de Boer in tow as his tagger.
Following a thorough review of Brisbane's 27-point last-start loss to Geelong, Neale said the areas that needed improving were obvious.
The Lions were smashed around the clearances and in contested footy all over the ground in a third quarter that Neale said "wasn't AFL standard".
"In particular centre bounce we got done, which gives them field position straight away. The midfield takes a fair bit of responsibility (for that)," Neale said.
"I certainly wasn't at my best, especially in the third quarter, so I put my hand up for a response this week."
Neale finished with 26 disposals and a goal against the Cats and still leads the League with an average of 29 touches a game. He is among the Brownlow Medal favourites.
Neale said it was not a huge concern if de Boer was sent out to tag him again.
"I don't think stopping one really stops us," he said.
"They've got some great midfielders, so it's whether they want to put a stopper in there.
"We've also got some pretty good players in our midfield.
"I might have got a bit more attention in the second half of last year, but we won all those games I was tagged, in I reckon.
"Teams can do it, but we've got midfield depth that can cover me if I'm having an off day."
The team doesn't have to look far for motivation ahead of this week's clash against GWS ??
— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) July 14, 2020
One match Brisbane didn't win was the semi-final against the Giants, when de Boer kept Neale to a relatively quiet 17 disposals.
But the 27-year-old is right in saying the Lions have strong depth in there, with skipper Dayne Zorko, Jarryd Lyons having another excellent season, Hugh McCluggage backing up his great 2019 and Jarrod Berry a huge improver.
Neale said his former Fremantle teammate of five years was both fit and strong, making him a tough match-up.
"I want to go in and get my hands a bit dirtier than I did last week," he said.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge if he comes, and if not, I'll look forward to just playing footy.
"We probably got beat up in that area a bit o the weekend and it's something we don't want to stand for, so we'll be looking to respond and play tough, hard footy ourselves."
