The Brisbane Lions have to rein in the helter-skelter approach that cost it last week when playing Melbourne at the Gabba on Saturday night, coach Chris Fagan says.
The Lions were torched on turnovers by St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round one, undoing some excellent work around the contest.
Fagan said although the primary battle against the rugged Demons would be to win the contested ball, his team had to be smarter with
"Yes, we talked about it this week," Fagan said.
"We always work on it … maybe it was just the first game, that stadium, not sure.
"The game's not about slowing down. It's about going fast and going slow or medium speed whenever you need to and the decisions around that.
"We've probably talked more about that than skill execution.
"We'll learn from it and grow as a team."
The Lions made three changes for the match, bringing in Rohan Bewick, midfield bull Rhys Mathieson and speedy half-back Cedric Cox to replace Daniel Rich (ankle), Mitch Robinson (suspension) and Tom Bell (omitted).
Fagan lauded Melbourne's contested ball ability – on show in Sunday's loss to Geelong – but said his team had made big inroad in that area.
"We've got plenty of tough blokes ourselves," he said.
"(Dayne) Beams is pretty tough, (Jarrod) Berry's pretty tough, Mathieson, the guy we brought in is pretty tough, (Dayne) Zorko's pretty tough.
"We've got a group of players who are handy in that department as well.
"We've stood up to some teams in the last month or so, Sydney and Gold Coast and St Kilda, who are all pretty strong in that department and we've competed equally as well if not better in that area.
"This is just another test for our group and we're looking forward to it."
Brisbane has copped drizzly rain all week and the Gabba is expected to be slippery on Saturday night.
The game also marks Allen Christensen's 100th appearance, a milestone that took a
