THE BRISBANE Lions have knuckled down defensively this week to prepare for the competition's most potent attack, says coach Justin Leppitsch.
The Lions coughed up a season-high 173 points against Port Adelaide last weekend and now face the daunting trip to Adelaide Oval on Saturday night to take on the Crows.
Leppitsch has kept a brave face all season and did so again on Thursday morning, saying, "I want to win," and expecting to do so off the back of improved defence.
They'll need to, with his team conceding 128 points a game and confronting a multi-dimensional forward line that includes Eddie Betts, Taylor Walker, Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch.
Leppitsch says after missing 35 tackles against the Power, the Lions had worked hard on fixing their defence this week.
"Obviously defence has to be our focus, and we're working on that hard, structurally, and the skill-based stuff, sticking tackles and things like that," he said.
"Both are falling apart at the moment.
"We own that.
"We'll be doing some more work on it, we have the whole year but it's been an extra focus the last few weeks and hopefully that part of our game improves."
On a structural front, Leppitsch said they had worked on one-on-one contests and finding opponents in transition – an area that has killed the Lions all year.
He said his young team struggled to combine zone defence with man-on-man, depending on the game situation.
Even with a 2-16 win-loss record, Leppitsch was sticking by his players.
"It's the sort of week where you can drop 15 blokes or stick with them, and we're probably more with the stick-with-them phase," he said.
"We know it's a difficult challenge but we accept the challenge. You accept it or you don’t, that's the two options you've got in footy.
"I know exterior people think, you're going down and it's just the (losing) margin, but I don't think like that, I go to every game to win and I want our players to feel the same.
Leppitsch said regular ruckman Stefan Martin was unlikely to play, although if he got through Thursday's main session strongly he was still an outside chance.
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