DEFENSIVE dominance was the key to the Brisbane Lions’ stunning QClash victory over Gold Coast, coach Justin Leppitsch says.

The Lions have kept opponents to fewer than 80 points in their past four games and this miserly attitude was evident early on Saturday evening as they went into the first-quarter break with a 23-4 inside 50s advantage, setting up a 54-point victory.

“Over the back six weeks [of the season] the real focus is limiting the opposition,” Leppitsch said. 

“We wanted to be really strong, defending well and score off turnovers. 

“We thought if we come from a real defensive focus, that will set us up really well. 

“In the last three weeks leading into the bye I thought we did that pretty well. We only had one win, but I thought the other games were still pretty good in terms of restricting the opposition.

“We had seven more inside 50s last week (in the loss to the West Coast), but couldn’t convert.

“Sometimes the game’s about that. We took our chances and set it up then the rain came in and made the game a different game altogether.”

Leppitsch admitted he could see a big performance coming from the Lions, fresh from a break in the split round.

“They’ve been training really well, they’re starting to drive themselves on the track,” Leppitsch said. 

“The understanding of what they’re doing is really good. It’s about implementing it and doing it as long as we can.

“The strength of the group is not giving up. There’s no excuse for effort. We’re still missing some key personnel but we’ve still got [Pearce] Hanley, [Tom] Rockliff, [Daniel] Merritt, [Jed] Adcock. We’ve still got enough experience.”

A buoyant Leppitsch also admitted the sparkling form of Stefan Martin and return of Matthew Leuenberger is “his first good problem”, but saved his best line for incoming CEO Greg Swann.

“You see Swanny’s influence already, 27,000 people and a win,” he joked.