The Brisbane Lions will draw on knowledge of the Norwood Oval ground where they won last year. (Michael Errey/AAP PHOTOS)

Zac Bailey is relishing a return to home comforts at Norwood Oval as his Brisbane Lions eye the best start to a season in the merged club’s AFL history.

The Lions (4-0) have never opened a campaign with five straight wins and can set a new mark when they start favourites against the Western Bulldogs (2-2) in Gather Round.

The defending premiers’ hot early-season form is in stark contrast to last year, when they slipped to 0-3 before recovering to win the flag.

“In previous years, in some of those close games, we started to panic a little bit, whereas this year there’s a calmness within the group,” Bailey told AAP.

“When we’re down or not going that great we have the leadership in the team to be able to turn things around, realise what we’re doing and make changes.

“In the first three games (this year) we came back after being down, so that’s all been growth for us and probably why we’re 4-0 right now.”

Bailey, who has kicked a team-high nine goals in four starts this season, believes there is an underlying confidence in the well-oiled Brisbane machine.

“We’ve kept a pretty similar group to last year and a lot of our younger kids have turned into mature leaders,” the flag-winning forward said.

“We’ve got a fair few in the leadership group, but it’s not just those people.

“It’s everyone having an understanding of their role and what we need to do in certain situations.

“Over the last five or six years we’ve made a lot of mistakes, but you have to learn from them.

“We’re at the point now where we know what we’re doing in those situations and we can make adjustments.”

Before the 1996 merger, the Brisbane Bears never opened a new campaign with more than two wins.

Fitzroy managed five-win starts in just five of their 100 AFL/VFL seasons, most recently in 1948, while their all-time record was an 8-0 opening in 1924.

While the current pride of Lions can create a slice of history with their fifth-straight win, they aren’t resting on their laurels in their flag defence.

“It’s a great start but it is a pretty long season and we’re only four games in,” Bailey said.

“We can’t get too ahead of ourselves, we just need to keep taking each week as it comes.”

Originally from Darwin, Bailey moved to Adelaide to finish high school at Prince Alfred College and was drafted from Norwood.

He will return to Norwood Oval on Saturday for the second time in Brisbane colours, having featured in the Lions’ win over North Melbourne there last year.

Brisbane’s experience at the boutique venue – which holds about 9000 spectators – could work in their favour against a Bulldogs side that has never played there.

“It’s a bit of a different shape, it’s a little bit skinnier, so it changes the way you defend the oval and the way you attack,” Bailey said.

“But we’ve played there before and we won last year, so we know how to win there.

“The Bulldogs have got some good players in the midfield that are going really well and they’re always a tough challenge, so we’re really looking forward to it.”

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