"WE KNOW what we're up against."

AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss said there wouldn't be any surprises when it comes to their latest test against the Lions at the Gabba... and if the Blues were to produce a four-quarter performance, this was the week to do it.

This is what he had to say.

On what ‘strengths and weaknesses’ the team has for Brisbane this week:

“It maybe as wasn’t as comprehensive as what they went to! We know what we’re up against. You see recent history and we’ve watched enough of them: when you come into these particular games when you’ve seen what’s been the best team in the competition over the last few years, you’re pretty familiar with their game.

“The challenge when you’re at an away venue is how do you stop it and how do you play your game the way you want to. We’ll have to provide our challenges where we can.”

On his own personal memories at the Gabba:

“I walked Harry Dean around here before, trying to give him some life lessons - he took a pretty reasonable mark in training the other day. Some memories, but at the same time, there are some things you can touch base on but they’re so long ago, it has little relevance.

“What we tend to do is look at recent form: we had a disappointing week last week. Previously to that, we’d been relatively consistent outside of a few minutes which has cost us dearly. Trying to replicate that intensity against what is a really good team that asks a lot in all phases of the game, we’re going to have to make sure we’re on.”

On what a win would do for the Blues’ season:

“It’d be pretty large, but you don’t think about outcome. That’s stating the absolute obvious about what we’re trying to do here. What we do have to focus on is getting our game together.

“We have to stay connected throughout the whole game to give ourselves the best chance to win. This is a pretty tough environment to win in, they’re a very good side. We’re going to have to do a lot right.

“It’s been frustrating, but at the same time, we’ve used those moments to find marginal gains to get better. That’s where we’re at as a team, and you’re living on that knife’s edge a little bit in terms of performance.

“To have a quarter like we did last week, it’s extremely disappointing. You’ve got to go to work on your game, we let ourselves down defensively. We’ve got to be better, and we have to ask more from one another throughout this game.”

On what he expects Brisbane has written about the Blues this week:

“The things people have been writing about us have been obvious. What we’ve got to do is put that to the side and focus in on what the next contest is for us, what the next play is and build our game for there. That’s how winning is done: it’s done over time, building from the bottom to the top. We’ll take that approach into this game.”

On George Hewett’s potential return:

“He’ll play.

“He’s been really strongly over the last couple of weeks, he’s added a couple more things into his game in the last few weeks which we’ll hopefully see in this game. He’s been a really valuable teammate for us. You bang the door down to selection through form, and he’s certainly done that.

“We know what we get with George, he’s very reliable. You’ve got to factor in what our balance is looking like, he brings a strong contest game. When we talk about Brisbane, they’re strong around stoppages and we’ve got to get our hands on the ball first.”

On pressure at the moment:

“I feel that every week. The nature of a high-performance environment is when we turn up on Monday, we reset ourselves and we set ourselves on a new opponent.

“We walk into every game knowing we’ll acquit ourselves well. The numbers say so. We let ourselves down last week, let’s hope that’s an anomaly. The game is going to demand that we play for longer.

“I’m focused on what we’ve got next. All that gets spoken about, but for me is what we need to be able to do and the team we put out there. I walk out of here, we have a team meeting, we focus on what the final message is and the style of play we want to bring to the game.

“That’s where all your energy goes, staying positive and making sure we support one another throughout the whole night.”

On mindset heading into this week’s game:

“We’ve got to become a football side that no matter who you’re playing against and the venue where you’re playing and the scenario you’re playing in front of, it really shouldn’t matter. We’ve got to rise above all that.

“We’ve got to stand for the way we want to be able to play. What has been proven is when we play it, it stacks up. When we venture off it and we stray and get distracted about outcomes, we end up getting the result we deserve.

“We’re going to have to fight that, resist some of those temptations and stay locked in on each other to get the job done from there.”