Brisbane Lions Midfield Coach Dale Tapping was happy with how his side fought to the end against the GWS GIANTS on Saturday.

The Lions won the last quarter by seven points, a little win which Tapping was pleased with.

“We saw it as a great challenge going into the game, taking on the top team at the moment with their elite talent,” Tapping said.

“The way we played the game out [was a little win]. The game was fairly even for 100 minutes, there was just periods where we fell away through lack of concentration.

“We re-aligned ourselves at three quarter time and we won the last quarter. We got our contested ball back and got our clearance rate back up.”

Staying in the game for the full four quarters remains a key goal for the Lions, with several lapses late in quarters proving costly against the GIANTS.

“You are always challenging your players to play four quarters of footy,” Tapping said.

“We are building for long-term success so all our energy is going into playing for four consistent quarters of footy.”

With Dayne Beams out early and Dayne Zorko facing a heavy tag, Tapping’s midfielders had a tough task against the GIANTS.

“GWS certainly put a lot of homework into Zorks. It’s a credit to him for the form he has had throughout the course of the year,” Tapping said.

“We can certainly take some learning lessons away with us. It may happen again this week so we have to prepare ourselves for that.

“Alex Witherden went really well on the weekend. His ball use as he gets more confident is going to be a real delight for Lions fans to see.” 

As one of the many new faces at the Lions this year, Tapping said the support he has from Chris Fagan and David Noble has been fantastic.

“Both Chris and David have been fantastic in giving us ownership of our areas and really challenging us and giving us confidence in doing our jobs. It’s been really enjoyable.”