Brisbane coach Chris Fagan takes cheeky swipe at Katy Perry and the AFL over grand final preparation

Brisbane are using the learnings from their AFL grand final experience last year to better prepare them for this year’s decider.

But even though they decided to fly down to Melbourne a day earlier this time around, that doesn’t mean they get priority over American pop megastar Katy Perry, who will perform before the game at the MCG.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Chris Fagan takes cheeky swipe at Katy Perry.

The Lions touched down in Melbourne on Wednesday of grand final week this year, 24 hours earlier than they did this time last year.

It means their last main training session before Friday’s captain’s run will be in Melbourne, rather than at home in Brisbane.

Given they’re seldom afforded the opportunity to play at the MCG, usually only playing one or two home and away games there per year, any chance to get onto the ground that the Lions get is invaluable.

Naturally then, they would love to train on the hallowed turf for their main session on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s grand final.

But Katy Perry has pulled rank.

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The ground is being occupied on Thursday by the singer for the last of her rehearsals before Saturday.

The Lions will instead train a couple of hundred metres away at Punt Road Oval, Richmond’s home base.

It’s not absolutely ideal for Brisbane, but coach Chris Fagan can see the funny side of it, and says it should matter little when the game rolls around.

“It’s good to see that the AFL’s got their priorities right. Don’t let the team on that’s going to play the game, just get the artist on,” Fagan joked on Talking Footy.

“We understand that,” he said more sincerely. “Fortunately, we’ve played two games on the MCG in the last five weeks, so we’ve had reasonable preparation in that regard.

“Having played there last week was a bonus. And we’ll get a captain’s run there on Friday, so that should be fine.”

Fagan said having last year’s grand final under their belts is already making the week feel more comfortable.

“I think the experience of last year, particularly for our players — most of the guys that are playing now, played last year; I think 17 or 18 of them — they seem much calmer this year,” he said on Wednesday night.

“I think they know what to expect. Last year, it was a little bit of the unknown, and that makes a fair difference.

“We had a team dinner tonight, just up the road from where we were staying, so that was good.

“And tomorrow (Thursday) we’ll do what we would have done in Brisbane. Last year, we trained and then jumped on a plane and came down — the plane ran late, we got here late.

“Whereas we’re here now, and a lot of the players are talking about that tonight, how they already feel like it’s a better routine.”

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