Speaking during a visit to Wagga for the Yandarra Festival on Sunday, the midfielder said this year's semi final loss to the grand finalists has made Brisbane more eager to take the next step.

The Lions were the surprise packet of the league, finishing second on the ladder before being eliminated in straight sets in September.

Christen joined Gold Coast Sun and cousin Sean Lemmens, as well as South Sydney NRL players Cody Walker and James Roberts, at the Indigenous festival.

"The way we finished was disappointing but we're a really young team and can only improve," he said.

"We lost to them (Giants) in the semi finals, hopefully the next few years we can build a good rivalry and we can have strong team in non-football dominated states."

The football stars also spoke to the Indigenous community about mental health and suicide prevention on Saturday.

Christensen opened up about a gambling addiction which hampered the early stages of his AFL career at Geelong earlier this year.

"It's not just Indigenous people, but people in general," Christensen said.

"If you don't speak about it, it can manifest into something worse. It's one thing I tried to do when I came to Brisbane, the more you put yourself out there it gives others confidence to talk."

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