Brisbane coach Chris Fagan believes the painful lessons from AFL finals series gone by have paved the way for the Lions' stunning September surge.
The Lions are through to a preliminary final against minor premiers Geelong after a famous upset of their bogey team Melbourne on Friday night.
Brisbane turned around their dismal recent form against the Demons, recording a 13-point victory at the MCG - 14.8 (92) to 11.13 (79) - at a venue where they had lost their last 11 matches since 2014.
After entering this year's finals series with a 1-5 post-season record, blighted by two straight-sets exits under Fagan, the Lions have now triumphed in two straight sudden-death thrillers.
Fagan hailed his team's resilience for backing up last week's classic victory over Richmond with another come-from-behind win, arguably the Lions' finest since their last grand final win in 2003.
He also pointed to the pain of losing to the Western Bulldogs by a point in last year's semi-final, and going down to GWS in 2019 by three points as a source of growth.
"I always think you've got to go through a process. It's not 'you get good and then suddenly you win a premiership'," Fagan said.
"It takes a little bit longer than that and it is a process.
"All the lessons that we've learnt in finals over the last few years are starting to come to fruition.
"We were getting a bad rap for our finals record but the truth is we were a whisker away from two more prelims.
"I don't see those as bad losses. They're just sometimes the bounce of the ball or a decision or skill error.
"I've always had faith in this group that we could find a way and the way I coach is we talk about having a growth mindset."
If the Lions are to salute for their first premiership in 19 years, they will have to win two more games at the MCG.
But after a frustrating eight years on the hallowed turf, Fagan was beaming when asked about breaking the drought.
"It was a pretty good time to do it, wasn't it? You just pick the right time to do these things," Fagan said.
"It's a remarkable turnaround from three weeks ago when we got beaten by 10 goals (by Melbourne). It just goes to show, sport, fantastic, isn't it?"
