THE BRISBANE Lions are hoping to use Saturday's upset win over Carlton as a springboard to a big second half of the season, says young utility Marco Paparone.
The Lions’ stirring fourth-quarter revival helped them upset the Blues by seven points and notch just their second win of a difficult season under rookie coach Justin Leppitsch.
But Paparone said with a more favourable draw in coming weeks - starting with the Western Bulldogs on Saturday - the last-placed Lions could move up the ladder.
"We came from behind … so it's given us a lot more confidence, especially going into next week against another bottom eight side," Paparone said.
"I've looked at the next six games and there's definitely some winnable games, and if we can win a few more of them it puts us a bit higher on the ladder.
"It's going to be a bit of rebuilding but we're getting a lot of confidence out of it."
Paparone said the club’s extremely young list had got some confidence from seeing Port Adelaide go from the bottom four to a clear competition leader within 18 months.
The 19-year-old is in the midst of a breakout second season, racking up another 22 disposals playing on a wing at the weekend.
He said not even the likely absence of ruckman Trent West – who was awaiting scan results of a potentially serious knee injury on Monday afternoon – would slow the Lions down.
Paparone was confident either Stefan Martin or rookie Archie Smith could do the job if required but said the midfield would have to step up to assist.
"We've still got a bit of coverage for Westy, but yeah, it's a big loss for us," he said.
"Rog (Daniel Merrett) played really well against Carlton and we need him to stand up again as a second ruckman.
"But (Tom) Rockliff, (Jack) Redden … need to stand up, which they did against Carlton, and got us over the line."
