JED ADCOCK struggled to identify why Richmond was able to run over the top of the Lions at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, but agreed his side has to find the problem and fix it fast.

“It’s happening too much at the moment. Against Melbourne we came back with five minutes to go and lost, it was similar against Essendon and it’s happened again in this game,” Adcock said.

“I don’t know if it’s a concentration thing, but whatever it is, it’s got to stop, it’s something that we really need to address.

“We’ve made the mistake of thinking we’ve done enough to win before and we tried to make sure that didn’t come into our heads, but it wasn’t to be.”

The Lions’ blue-chip midfielders were well held on the night, with Josh Drummond his side’s highest possession winner with 21, which made the Lions’ ability to open up a sizeable lead late in the third quarter even more impressive.

“I think the clearances were 15 to one just in the second quarter so it’s tough when that’s happening, but to get up by 31 points and then lose is really disappointing,” Adcock said.

“The midfield struggled in the second quarter, but then got back on top in the third when we were starting to dominate the game. The Tigers are playing pretty good footy at the minute so I think we did well to get up by that much.”

Adcock said the frustration of losing a close one was compounded by the fact that the Brisbane Lions’ main rivals for a top-eight berth, the Sydney Swans, Collingwood and St Kilda, had all stumbled in a round of upsets.

“We addressed the fact that it was an eight-point game for us at the start of the week and then with the way the results have fallen it would have been an even bigger result for us, but what can you do?” he said.

“It’s gone now, so we’ll address some issues and move on to North Melbourne next week.”