THE Brisbane Lions' late charge towards an unlikely finals berth has set the stage for a huge clash with occasional Gold Coast rivals the Kangaroos on Saturday night at the Gabba.
And Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews added a bit of fuel to the match yesterday when he said his team's performances over the past month have been worthy of a future premiership contender.
The Lions now have four wins in succession, beginning with their upset of West Coast at Subiaco in round 14 and culminating in Saturday night's 93-point demolition of Collingwood at the MCG.
Coming on top of their 117-point annihilation of Carlton, the Lions boast a healthy percentage of 110.8 and sit 11th on the ladder, half a game behind Essendon, St Kilda and the Bulldogs.
They face a tough run home with games against the Kangaroos, Hawthorn, Sydney, Adelaide at AAMI Stadium and runaway ladder leader Geelong to come.
Matthews admitted yesterday his team had exceeded his expectations over the past month, after a horror mid-season patch where the Lions failed to win a game between rounds six and 13.
"I think you've got to say that what you saw on Saturday night would have been on the optimistic side of what anyone thought the group would have been capable of," Matthews said.
"Now that's only one game, but it also comes on top of the last month. The performances over the last month have been indicative of a team that is capable of being a top-four, premiership contender, that's the level of performance we've got.
"To think you'd see that at any stage in 2007 was probably on the optimistic side, I suspect, but the fact is we've done it in a patch. Now (we've) got to do it consistently."
Matthews said the chances of making the finals was in his team's hands. "If we win five games, we'll make the finals. It's in our control and, if we win every game, we'll make the finals, I'd have thought."
With the Lions' attendance figures at home being down all year, Matthews hopes to rally supporters of both the Lions and Kangaroos to the new "local derby" on Saturday.
"We're just hoping that our members and supporters turn up in their droves to overwhelm those Gold Coast invaders with their blue and white," he said.
Matthews noted that the Kangaroos had been under-rated this season. "Your reputation trails your performances by six months or 12 months, and that's what's going on with the Kangaroos No one rates them as high as you normally do a side that's clearly second on the ladder."
