Plenty of changes have been made by Brisbane coach Michael Voss in the fallout over their abysmal 98-point, last-round AFL loss to West Coast.
Defender Matt Maguire on Friday became the latest, joining five axed players on the sideline after succumbing to an ankle complaint.
But a superstitious coach would have also added ex-Tiger Andrew Raines to the list.
Since Raines left Richmond at the end of 2009, the Lions have never beaten the Tigers – but the Brisbane tagger was confident they would finally end that ominous statistic against his old side at the Gabba on Saturday night.
The Lions needed all the good news they could muster after Maguire was ruled out, earning a call-up for Ryan Harwood in what looms as a daunting match-up with Tigers matchwinner Jack Riewoldt.
And Raines did his best to boost spirits as the club looked to salvage something from their 2012 campaign.
“We haven’t been playing our best football over the past couple of weeks but I’m sure we’ll bounce back on our home turf – it’s an important game for us,” said Raines who is expected to tag Trent Cotchin or Dustin Martin.
“It’s always good to play against your old mates but they’re not mates when you go to battle.
“They’re (Cotchin and Martin) genuine stars of the AFL.
“They’ve got some quality players and, if they’re up and about, it definitely goes a long way to their success.”
But success has been frustratingly out of reach for Richmond of late, enduring unwanted media speculation ahead of the Gabba showdown after losing their past three games by less than a goal.
At one stage, the Tigers were $1.22 with bookies to make the 2012 finals – now they are languishing with the same 7-10 record as the rebuilding Lions.
But AFL great and ex-Lions coach Leigh Matthews on Friday assured the unlucky Tigers they should not gauge their progress by the ladder.
“At the moment, they are at the depths of despair because they have lost three really close games and I think that is the end of their season,” Matthews told the afl.com.au website.
“But I also think you have got to look at it in the big picture that Richmond, to me, are a side that should have hope for the future.
“Sometimes with close losses, really there is a lot of good luck or good fortune that comes into it and Richmond has lost five games by 10 points or less and that means they might finish around 12th.
“But if I was a Richmond supporter, I would have a bit of hope about where they are going from next year onwards.”
