Brisbane coach Chris Fagan won't make any team changes to adapt to Norwood Oval's narrow dimensions, but there is a concerted effort at training to prepare for the unusual venue.
Norwood Oval's dimensions stand at 165 metres in length and 110 metres in width, making it the narrowest official AFL venue in the country.
Known for its iconic straight boundary line on its grandstand wing, Brisbane and the Bulldogs will be playing in a confined space smaller than their usual home territories - the Gabba has a width of 138 metres, while Marvel Stadium's width is 128.
"We got a skinny wing and a straight boundary line"
Norwood Oval isn't your conventional ground.
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Brisbane played at the ground in 2024's Gather Round, defeating North Melbourne by 74 points and kickstarting their campaign after beginning 0-3. This experience, as well as an effort to take the game on, will be vital on Saturday according to Fagan, as the Lions look to build on an undefeated start this season.
"We've had the benefit of playing there for a game, so a lot of our players that played last year will be playing again this year," Fagan said.
"It's just dealing with that lack of width. You feel really closed in, so it challenges your ball movement and probably makes you fearful to move the ball a little bit more than what you would feel normally because there's more of a crowd around the footy.
"But you can work your way through it if you know what you're doing and you're prepared to take the game on a little bit."
Fagan referenced that Norwood Oval was not too dissimilar to Geelong's home deck, with GMHBA Stadium's width at just 115 metres.
"Geelong's ground is probably the same width, so there are some grounds in the AFL that are like that," Fagan said.
"We play at Geelong later on in the year, so it's probably good preparation for that as well."
The premiership coach also established that the Lions are unfazed by the small venue, as commentary arose throughout the week that Brisbane should have been rewarded with a game at Adelaide Oval as reigning premiers.
"We don't feel a sense of entitlement just because we won the premiership last year, we're happy to play wherever the AFL put us," Fagan said.
"They'd have their reasons for fixturing things the way that they do, and I don't understand how they go about those decisions, but we're not gonna waste any energy of where we play.
"We're just gonna do the best we can at where we're fixtured."
The Lions take on the Bulldogs at 3:45 pm local time.
