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Brisbane are confident they will be a more potent AFL force this season and plan to showcase their determination in next month’s pre-season competition.
The Lions were decimated in the opening round of the pre-season competition last year and a miserable home-and-away season followed.
The went down in the opening round robin clash badly, losing to Essendon by 52 points and then to St Kilda by 29 points in the abbreviated match format.
But 2011 acting captain Jed Adcock said he expected a new-look team this season.
“We played a very young side last year and we got blown out of the water in the first round,” Adcock said.
“I think it will be a lot different this year, we’ll put in a much more experienced team.
“We seem to have a lot more players ready to play now than last year so hopefully we can just put in a better performance.”
While admitting the pre-season competition was hardly a stage for eye-catching football, he said there were some lessons which could be taken into the season proper.
“You can learn some things about your structures and your game plan and your style and the way you want to play,” Adcock said.
“But every club is in the same boat and they’re very scrappy games, the first four games.
“It’s more getting some miles into the players’ legs, a bit of match fitness, that kind of thing.
“You’ve still got to work out what structures work and what don’t and you sort of fiddle with it coming into round one.”
He said the club would also be interested to look at how their expectations for the younger players materialised.
“I think you look at the emerging group, the 20-25 group who would have probably taken another step again.
“But training’s training and games are games so until we actually hit NAB Cup we’re not going to know what’s happening really.”
With captain Jonathan Brown out injured for most of last year, Adcock bore much of the responsibility as acting captain and said he felt the disappointment of a failed campaign more acutely than most.
“I found it really good but it was frustrating because you feel like you’re pushing towards something and you just couldn’t get over the line.
“From my point of view, leading the team in that way, it was probably a little more frustrating than for the others.
“It was tough but in saying that hopefully we’ve moved on and we’re bette
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