BRISBANE Lions coach Justin Leppitsch knows his side's ugly win over Melbourne won't live long in the memory, but it still marks a step forward for his young team.
The Lions were frustrated by the Demons' defensive gameplan and their own poor disposal – especially entering forward 50 – in a 23-point win at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
"At three-quarter time I said 'this is the worst game I think I've ever seen'," Leppitsch said post-match.
"You just have to look at the scoreboard that can tell you often if a game's good or not.
"If there's teams who have kicked 15 goals each at three-quarter time or teams that have kicked six goals each, you kind of go 'geez this is a bit of an ugly game, a bit of a scrap' and it was.
"So I don't think anyone's going to be running out to buy that one."
While Leppitsch conceded the aesthetics weren't overly enticing, what pleased him was the Lions' ability to break the shackles in a match-winning six-goal last quarter.
After dominating the inside 50 count 60-34, the Lions finally got reward for effort when they more than doubled their three-quarter time score in the 11.8 (74) to 6.15 (51) victory.
"We were just efficient (in the last quarter). That's pretty much the game in summary," Leppitsch said post-match.
"We had a lot of inside 50s – we smashed them in that area – and they smashed us in efficiency inside 50.
"With our maturity and where we're at we don't have Stevie J (Johnson) breaking the 50.
"We don't have those elite decision makers – we're growing into that, we're getting better at that.
"The encouraging signs are things we're working on now are smaller things as opposed to the big-ticket stuff."
Leppitsch had special praise for fifth-gamer Daniel McStay after the 19-year-old booted three crucial goals from 14 disposals.
"We recruited him knowing he could play both ends of the ground," Leppitsch said.
"He's in the Harry Taylor mould, that's the style of player he is and he can jump and mark the ball."
Ex-Melbourne ruckman Stefan Martin was also lauded for another fine performance.
Martin gathered 24 disposals and won 23 hit-outs in a clear win against his former teammate Mark Jamar.
"If he's playing like that the whole year he'd be winning our best-and-fairest easy because that's how good he's been. It's an amazing turnaround so credit to him," Leppitsch said.
The first-year coach said he was "rapt" with his side's progress this season, although he stopped short of declaring his team being ahead of where he thought they would be after six wins in 2014.
Daniel Merrett will come under Match Review Panel scrutiny after he was reported for a late hit on Cameron Pedersen in the fourth quarter.
Pedersen is believed to have suffered a broken nose from the incident.
"I actually didn't see the close-up. Obviously the crowd went up so I'm sure there was something there, but whether it was late, really high, really bad or just 50m – I don't know," he said.
