Brisbane co-captain Josh Dunkley has denied the Lions took a complacent attitude into their embarrassing weekend loss to Sydney and is confident the premiers will lift with their season on the line against Adelaide on Saturday night.

The Lions have been plunged into sudden-death football after being thrashed by 53 points by the rampant Swans at the SCG.

Brisbane was expected to beat a Sydney team missing suspended quintet Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon, and Riley Bice.

The Swans also lost captain Callum Mills to a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter.

However, the Sydneysiders defied the odds with an inspirational display against the hugely disappointing Lions.

The attitude of Brisbane’s players has been questioned in the aftermath of the defeat, but Dunkley – who was the Lions’ best player – said his team’s pre-game “mindset” was good.

“I thought our preparation for that game was really good,” the Lions star said on Tuesday.

“(We) couldn’t really fault our training (and) couldn’t fault our mindset heading into it. It was just one of those days.

“We’ve had a couple of them this year, and unfortunately, it was in a big final where we had a great opportunity, but we’ll learn.

“You don’t lose, you learn. If we’re not hungry this weekend, then we don’t deserve to be there. We’ll hopefully bounce back.”

Brisbane has no choice but to hit back to maintain its bid for a hat-trick of premierships.

The Lions can take some comfort from having been in a similar position last season when they were beaten by 38 points by Geelong in a qualifying final before winning three successive do-or-die games to clinch their second successive flag.

“Both (losses to Sydney and Geelong) were pretty bad. The weekend was probably worse, but it is something that we’ve touched on, but we can’t rely on (thinking that) we bounced back last year and just think that’s going to happen (again) on Saturday night.

“We’ve got to get to work and make sure that we’re playing the way that we know that we can play against the Crows this weekend, and hopefully that’ll get us the result.

“Last week wasn’t acceptable, and it’s something that us leaders and the group are willing to take control of and move forward.”

With Lions coach Chris Fagan known for showing loyalty to his players, Dunkley didn’t expect “too much” change with team selection this week.

However, the versatile Ty Gallop could force his way back into the 23 after losing out to veteran defender Darcy Gardiner in the selection battle last weekend.

Half-back Noah Answerth could be in doubt after injuring his ankle against the Swans. He didn’t train on Tuesday and was seen in a moon boot.

Adelaide’s team is set to include former Lions star Callum Ah Chee, who moved to the Crows at the end of last season after winning consecutive flags with Brisbane.

“He’ll be giving them a lot of information this week,” Dunkley said of Ah Chee.

“They’ve got so much talent there. It’s going to be a great match-up across the field, and whoever’s going to bring that edge will probably win the game.”