Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said he'd prefer Lachie Neale's tour of Collingwood's facilities be after the Lions played Carlton, not the day before.
Neale walked through the Pies building last Friday, 24 hours before the 76-point loss to the Blues at Marvel Stadium.
"There's more and more player movement. There's more and more free agents, and those free agents can exercise their rights to check out, potentially, their new workplace," Fagan said.
"To be honest, I probably would have preferred if that did happen, it didn't become public knowledge, or it could have been done post our game last week, so that all the speculation around whether that was the right or wrong thing to do wouldn't happen.
SEE MORE: Dayne Zorko responds to Lachie Neale's Pies visit
"But it has, and I haven't lost any sleep over it."
Fagan admitted Neale didn't speak to him about the meeting before heading to Collingwood.
"He doesn't have to, either," Fagan said.
"It would be nice if he would, so you don't get caught by surprise, but that's the way it is."
The shock loss to the Blues has left Brisbane's double chance in jeopardy, with Adelaide, Melbourne and Geelong vying for a top-four finish.
A Friday night blockbuster against Hawthorn at the Gabba is a precursor to some match-ups fans can expect in September.
The Lions have cleared veteran trio Ryan Lester (shoulder), Dayne Zorko (managed) and Darcy Gardiner (hamstring) to face the Hawks, while Hugh McCluggage and Logan Morris will need to complete the captain's run to be deemed available.
"I have a lot of faith in this group," he said.
"If you look at their record over the last eight years, you'd have a lot of faith in them too.
"The odd time over those years we've had a poor loss, we've always been able to respond. I'm backing the group in to do that this week."
