BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews won’t be getting carried away with Saturday night’s 46-point win over West Coast, but he left the Gabba satisfied that his side had regained the necessary competitive spirit.
In a scrappy game, the Lions set up a ninth win of the season with eight unanswered goals between the 11-minute mark of the second quarter and the 20th minute of the third term.
After disappointing losses to Melbourne and Essendon in the previous two rounds, Matthews was pleased with the four points in a performance notable for the Lions’ hard running and tackling.
"We’ve fallen at a couple of hurdles, so it was nice to jump one,” Matthews said.
"A lot of the things that are important to our competitiveness were there tonight.
"We weren’t fantastic with ball in hand but at least we got the competitive building blocks back to something near the standard we need. Therefore we got back to playing something near the ability we’ve got.”
The sixth-placed Lions now face a vital clash against Richmond at Telstra Dome next weekend.
The Tigers kept their own finals aspirations alive with a fighting four-point win over in-form Essendon on Saturday.
"The perception is the reality. And the fact is when you are on the losing end of two (straight) games, it’s very easy for people to think you are going terribly,” Matthews said.
"At different stages of the 22 rounds, different teams will be in really good shape.
"Essendon has been in pretty good shape for the last month and Richmond has also obviously been in really good shape over the last month.
"Now we happen to be playing them at a time when they are up rather than maybe two months ago when they were struggling.”
Matthews said he could see a lot of the post-triple premiership Lions in the Eagles, who have fallen to 2-14, two seasons after winning a flag in 2006.
In 2005, after four consecutive grand finals appearances, the Lions dropped to a 10-12 record and a 10th place finish, losing their last game of the season to St Kilda by more than 100 points.
"West Coast remind me a bit of us at the end of 2005,” Matthews said.
"There is a very real physical and mental thing, where you are used to paying for premierships and top four positions and then within very short period of time, less than 12 months, you are just struggling to win a game.
"The season is different and players who played the previous years often have trouble playing with the same energy.
"I saw that in our team. We still had 12 or 13 premiership players but by the end of 2005 we were the worst team in the competition.”
