BRISBANE Lions Coach Justin Leppitsch was buoyed by his team's ability to win both contested possessions (129-113) and clearances (42-25) against the Blues, but said all-too-familiar skill errors had been the root cause of the Lions' 38-point loss.
"We kicked ourselves out of it – I think I might have said that a few times this year – particularly in the early part of the game," Leppitsch said.
"Contested footy, clearance stuff was terrific and you could almost say (we) dominated that part of the game, but that's not everything.
"We just let ourselves down with some skill errors which they capitalised on."
Leppitsch said the Lions were working on backing themselves more with their ball movement and giving opposition teams something to defend, but conceded this remained "a challenge" for his young side.
The Lions scored just 1.7 in the first half against Carlton, but Leppitsch stressed the Lions had created as many front-half turnovers as the Blues but had not been able to convert them into enough scoring opportunities.
"Our young forwards can't turn those numbers into something efficient that gives us easy goals," Leppitsch said.
"It's hard scoring for us at the moment, it really is, and that fluency comes over time.
"I thought for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter we did have some fluency and looked like we were scoring easily, but those patches aren't enough in the game for us.
"But the beauty is the effort and endeavour is there and I'm liking that, and I want to keep the boys continuing to do that."
Leppitsch praised Rockliff's ability to compile a career-high 48 touches in his return from injury, saying the skipper set a standard others at the club must strive to emulate.
"He's a very good player, isn't he? Tom very rarely wastes the ball and he's a very good contested player and always puts players out in space," the Lions coach said.
"And in a very young team that does make some errors, he's a clear standout when you watch us play.
"We just have to make sure we get a few more up to that level."
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