The Brisbane Lions head into this weekend’s Qualifying Final against Richmond with a drought to break.
The Lions have not beaten the Tigers in their last 15 attempts in a run of losses that commenced in 2010, including last year’s first final which ended in a 47-point defeat.
On Friday night, they get the chance to put an end to that dominance and returning midfielder Jarrod Berry has identified how he and his teammates are planning to buck the trend.
“Obviously now we’ve had a taste of the finals, I guess we are a bit better equipped to face Richmond,” he said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“There’s always learnings out of each game. You find out different little tactics that they use and stuff like that.
“We have more games and experience under our younger guys’ belts so we are always going to be more equipped to be able to beat them.
“But it’s whether you can put that into practice in a game scenario.”
The 22-year-old feels that whoever gets on top in the middle of the ground will go a long way to booking a Preliminary Final berth with names such as Neale, Zorko, Lyons and McCluggage up against Martin, Cotchin, Edwards and perhaps even Prestia.
“The midfield is going to be a great battle,” Berry added.
“They’ve got some great names and big stars in there. I guess we’ve got a more even, consistent sort of side.
“It will be a great battle. You take confidence from your previous performances against teams but to be honest, it’s one of the furthest things from my mind whether I play well or not. It’s whether I can deliver my role for the team on the given day.”
The last time the two sides met was in Round 10 with an inaccurate Brisbane outfit missing their opportunities to finish with 4.17 and as a result, a 41-point loss.
Berry insists that can translate to something better if the Lions can clean a few things up while simply focusing on what they can control.
“You look at our previous game against Richmond, it was quite a bit closer than what people actually made it out to be,” he said.
“We kicked so many behinds and didn’t have that scoreboard pressure on.
“We need to continually trust our process and keep going after it, play our way. We’ve been focusing on what we can do rather than what Richmond can do to us.”
Berry has been sidelined with a shoulder injury which forced him out of the final two home-and-away matches but is expected to be back alongside star defender Harris Andrews for the crunch encounter at the Gabba.