ON A NIGHT when poor ball use again cruelled the Brisbane Lions, coach Justin Leppitsch was left to wonder: ‘what if?’
The Lions had more disposals (346-334) and more inside 50s (52-45) than West Coast in their 12-point loss, but for the second successive week, lacked class and polish to capitalise.
And Leppitsch could only bemoan the fact he was missing class midfielder Tom Rockliff through suspension.
The Lions coach spoke to his vice-captain earlier in the week after Rockliff copped a one-match ban for striking Alex Rance last weekend, saying he "needs to be smarter than that".
After watching his young team cough up chance after chance against the Eagles with poor decisions and execution, Leppitsch could only ponder what difference the classy ball-use of prolific Rockliff could have made.
"I would have thought Tom Rockliff would have helped, I think everyone knows that," Leppitsch said.
"He didn't play, so that's what happened, and we lose a tight one, so that's the result of it."
Leppitsch even joked to journalists at the start of his press conference they should listen to the recording of last week's post-match offerings following the 25-point loss against Richmond, such was the similarity of the performances.
"Two weeks in a row we've probably blown our chances inside 50," he said.
"So in a way it's an encouraging sign, at least we're getting the ball in there to make our errors inside 50.
"It's just that continuity going in, we're working on it. Oppositions do pressure you up, they do put numbers behind the ball, they do make it a difficult scenario for our players, we just have to overcome that."
There was no lack of supply, particularly in the first half, from a midfield that was decisively winning the clearance battle.
Stefan Martin continued his incredible resurgence, finishing with 24 disposals, 25 hit-outs and four clearances.
He dominated the Eagles' triple team of Nic Naitanui, Scott Lycett and Callum Sinclair in the first half, before running out of legs in the second.
"We did a lot of work on the stoppages this week, probably not enough work on the offence, pretty clear isn't it?" Leppitsch joked.
"We did a lot of work on it, because we knew that was the area they were probably going to nut us, and they didn't, so credit to the guys in there. We sort of came out even in that battle."
