THE Brisbane Lions have won plaudits in the last month for their scoring prowess, but coach Leigh Matthews says tackling pressure provided the foundation for Saturday night’s 37-point win over the Kangaroos.

The Roos went into the game having won 12 of their last 14 but spent the vast majority of the match chasing their hosts around the Gabba.

And when they weren’t, it was the Lions running them down – with the home side compiling an impressive 84-65 advantage in the tackle count, including 14 by Simon Black.

“We had 27 scoring shots to 15 so we had a good night at the footy, but a different night to what we’ve become used to in the last month,” Matthews said.

“I thought tackling pressure was just magnificent – our ability to keep tackling and tackling made it hard for Kangaroos to score.

“No team can play well enough offensively to be able not to tackle extremely well too. It’s a building block for any good team performance and in the last five weeks our tackling pressure has been exceptional.”

Saturday night’s win was the Lions’ fifth in a row and lifts them into seventh spot – dependent on the outcome of Sunday matches between Sydney and Melbourne and Essendon and Hawthorn.

The Lions can now lay genuine claims to being the competition’s second hottest side behind Geelong, but in trademark fashion, Matthews isn’t about to start talking September just yet.

“While [our finals hopes are] in our own hands, I honestly never know what is going to happen week to week,” he said.

“If we can produce the level we’ve produced the last five weeks, we can beat anybody.

“And if we beat enough ‘anybodies’, we can play finals.”

Matthews is likely to have to make one forced change for the round-19 clash with Hawthorn at the MCG, after small forward Ash McGrath suffered a suspected fracture of the wrist during the third quarter of Saturday night’s match.

Veteran Chris Johnson and young forward Mitch Clark could both come under consideration, following strong performances in the reserves, while creative defender Josh Drummond missed the match against the Roos with a leg injury.

“We’ll look at everybody,” Matthews said.

“It’s been hard to make voluntary changes to the team over the last five week’s because  the team has had a good patch of form –  we’ve largely been going with the same group.

“But it looks like we’ve lost Ash, so there will be a spot available to somebody.”